If you all could take a few moments my coworker, friend and fellow Veteran, Dana Ross, is in need of prayers and well wishes tonight. Dana is a U.S. Air Force Vietnam Veteran who has continued to serve his country as a civilian D.o.D. employee in our warehouses. He has been in the logistics industry shipping supplies to our war fighters for over 30 years.
Dana had taken vacation to fly to Seattle, purchase his brother-in-law’s Harley Davidson and drive it back home here in central Pennsylvania. While driving through construction near Indianapolis the other day Dana struck a concrete wall at over 60 MPH. We don’t know the cause of the accident yet but he was sober so speculation here is he blew a front tire. His body is badly beat up and his leg has been shattered requiring many surgeries already along with the use of a Halo for support. His family was rushed to his side.
Dana has devoted his entire life to serving our nation. Please, if you get a moment, say a prayer for him or send him a positive thought. He is a very close friend of mine and my heart is heavy right now but not so much as those of his family.
Dana; You, your family and Doctors will remain in my prayers throughout this ordeal. Nighthawk, please keep us posted so that our prayers can be specific.
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
The Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.” Num. 6:24-26
Hi folks,
First let me thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers. They are working. Dana is improving daily. I haven’t been able to talk to him personally yet but we got an update through our supervisor yesterday. The worst of Dana’s injuries are the badly shattered leg and severe road rash.
It is our understanding that the doctors in Indianapolis put out a heroic effort to save his left leg. The leg wash crushed between the concrete barrier and the motorcycle then pinned under the bike. The leg is so badly shattered that they have put it in a halo to hold everything in place, along with a lot of other hardware, while the bones knit back together. Dana is going to be transferred to a hospital in the Harrisburg area sometime later this week. He faces at least one more round of surgery along with extensive rehabilitation.
I know Dana well. He is a fellow Vet and a Military Aviator. Tough as nails, stubborn as a mule, this guy is no quitter. He keeps asking me to teach him how th fly fish when I get recovered enough to do so. Sounds like good therapy for both of us. As soon as he is back here I am going to go see him. I would like to print out this post and take it to him. I know it will make him happy!
Prayers from here as well. To all our folks who are ‘recovering’, the FAOL family keeps all of us close to their hearts, that is one of the wonderful unexplained things and I’m grateful for it.
I got my first bike over 30 years ago. So, from an old biker to a fellow biker; Get well soon and next time remember the old saying “Keep the shiny side up”.
I have a few friends that now ride trikes. Don’t give up, ever.
Hi folks,
I have good news on Dana. He is home, doing as well as can be expected. Very soon he will have another round of surgery to remove the halo device from his left leg. He still faces a lot of time off withe extensive rehabilitation too but he is expected to make a 100% recovery.
Here are some details on his accident. Seems he was entering into a “Cattle Chute” for a construction zone on an interstate near Indianapolis. He was in the left lane and the vehicle beside him started to swerve his way. He moved to the left to accommodate the other driver and that is when his left foot peg struck the concrete barrier. He said he noticed that the peg was bent back 90 degrees and his foot had turned with it while the knee remained pointed straight ahead! He had on a set of leather chaps over blue jeans but the barrier ground right through these giving him a severe case of road rash on top of the shattered bones in that leg.
Now get this: Dana kept the bike upright, pulled off of the highway, parked the bike, called 911 himself on his own cell phone and began attending his own wounds while waiting on the Paramedics! Talk about a tough guy, there he is! Wish I could give him a medal for it.