The beginning

We got a call Sunday afternoon just as John was getting prepared to meet his friend, Hugh Haynes for their weekly dinner at Furrs. It was a neighbor of Hugh's telling us that he had a bicycle accident and had been airlifted to UMC. John and I hurried there to find a couple of his neighbors waiting at the hospital to fill us in on what they knew. Hugh had been out riding and probably was finishing up his ride since he was almost in front of his drive. His routine is to ride 33 miles a day. A boy that lives out there, saw that he had fallen off the bike, ran for someone to call 911 and then ran back to check on Hugh. By the time the boy returned, a doctor and nurse who were also bike riding had found Hugh on the side of the road and had started CPR. It took quite a long time for the helicopter to come to airlift him to Lubbock to UMC.

Hugh had been wearing a helmet. Something happened, what we will never know, maybe an animal crossed in front of him. He flipped over his bike, landed on his head and broke his neck at C2. The speculation is, he immediately quit breathing at that time. We don't know how much time passed before the other bikers found him. When EMT came, he was put on a respirator and has been in SICU since.

Hugh has a daughter who lives in California, a son in the Dallas area and a son that lives in Amarillo. All of the family have come to Lubbock and are staying with us. Two more grandchildren arrive tomorrow and that will total 11 of his family staying here. It appears that the decision may be to take Hugh off life support tomorrow. He has been non responsive since the accident and with a C2 fracture, prognosis is very bleak.

I am so concerned for John. To tell the truth, this is John's only friend. It seems that the crisis and tragedies just continue to rain.

I thought that ya'll would like to know and know why you haven't heard much from me.