Hi everyone,
I just wanted to talk a little bit about myself today and let you know a little bit about myself. Growing up in Wickenburg, Arizona with my dad being a dirt bike rider, it didn't take long for me to find myself right behind him on my dirt bike. I started competing in off road races when I was 9 years old, and I was doing fairly well. However, when I was 16, that all changed.
On March 16, 2002, my life was almost taken from me by my dirt bike. What happened was a part of the handlebars, called a crossbar, struck my throat and fractured my larynx (voicebox). This particular type of injury is usually followed by death. In my case, the puzzle pieces all fell perfectly together to secure my survival (ie, paramedics/helicopter on scene).
However, after 2 weeks in the hospital and 3 months with a endotracheal tube, I was almost good as new. With the exception of a paralyzed vocal cord. Thsese days I'm happy to say that I'm still alive and kicking even with my rhaspy/quiet voice. The reason why I am blogging about this today is to educate people about the type of handlebars you have on your motorcycle.
If your dirt bike handlebars look like this:
If you have family or friends that rides dirt bikes, I strongly encourage you to replace your exsisting handlebars with a design that does not have the crossbar like these:
Please, Please take what I have said here to heart and change those handlebars to prevent a horrible injury such as a larnyx fracture from happening to someone you know. Thanks for reading and I hope that this experience shows you how important this issue really is.
~Kyle
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