Giving Thanks To Kind Strangers Post-Accident

The NZR editor gives thanks to kind strangers, after a bone-breaking bike crash last week.

This is James Thompson, acting manager/group controller with Emergency Management Canterbury. James kept me company as I lay splayed out on the ground after a bike accident that happened in a split-second last Tuesday.

I was biking on wet slate tiles along the pathway that borders the Earthquake memorial. I moved my bike to turn right, when a three-wheeler bike came into my path. I swerved left and we clipped each other.

After the crash, James came out of nowhere and did his best to look out for me while another hero hailed an ambulance crew in my direction. Even after St. John put me into a drug-induced stupor in an effort to put me onto a stretcher and take my next stop, he hung in there with me.

James is a real hero in my book, because he stayed with me and even took in my bike for safekeeping at the Emergency Precinct while I underwent shoulder reconstruction and began my recovery. The other man remains anonymous but I hope to track him down.

What heroes!

During my journey from the footpath to ED and then onto Ward 11 in public, I was humbled by the care I received from so many people, be they bystanders, nurses, surgeons, a cleaner, food servers, and patients, who made it bearable and even enjoyable.

Thanks to these people and people like James who commit to difficult situations and see them through. We need to give thanks to them more than we do and they need to hear it.