So you may have noticed that the One Gear Blog has been a little quiet over the last few days; that it hasn’t continued with the same verbose ferocity that it started with? There were a few unknowns until very recently and so as not create alarm by feeding you guys the wrong information I have held off on telling you what happened on the 7th and posted what I could in between just to keep things going.
We were about 30 km from Hopetown on Wednesday on what had been quite a cushy ride when my dad had a heart attack! He was in sever pain and on the ground rolling in agony on the side of the road. He kept changing position to try and extract from the tar whatever comfort he could. I think deep down he knew that he was having a heart attack but was so determined not to let me and the One Gear Challenge down that he tried to get up and start riding again! He said it was just wind and that if we carried on it would go away. I was making emergency calls with one hand while trying to hold him down with the other. I was asking him what he was feeling and what the symptoms were while all he would answer was that “we need to get going”. Doug turned around and was brilliant in summing things up and taking control. We got my dad as comfortable as possible and started gunning it for Hopetown but there were roadworks and stop and go sections that held us up – some of the longest moments of my life were spent then stuck behind trucks unable to move.
The ambulance met us at the edge of the roadworks and we transferred my dad and sped off directly to the only doctor in Hopetown. The ambulance driver, Daniel, was incredible and had the foresight to take us directly to the Doc himself as he knew there was no doctor on call at the clinic then. Daniel has subsequently called me about 23 times to see how my dad is doing. The Doc, who once played against the All Blacks for Freestate, did all the necessaries including giving the old man a shot of morphine which quickly settled him and almost instantly applied a dorky grin to his face. Now stabilised we were told to get him to Kimberley where a physician had been prepped to meet us. The nurses and Doctor in Kimberley were great and he was quickly taken care of, ultimately ending up in ICU (which my dad in his denial believed was only because there weren’t enough beds in the normal ward) but there is no Cardiologist in Kimberley and so about 12 hours after the initial incident, and some hefty and unsuccessful negotiations with Discovery, we “hired” a ER24 Ambulance to take my dad to Sunninghill Hospital in Joburg. He would not let me get in the ambulance with him and insisted on me continuing with the ride. You could say that I should have fought his resistance harder but you may not know my old man and that if I had not listened to him then I would have probably caused another heart attack.
My dad is currently at home waiting to go in next week for a triple bypass. I went back and completed the ride we didn’t finish and have subsequently done another 3 very lonely rides without him. My plan now is to try and make it back before he goes in for his op. This means making up some serious time…
Today we skipped Bosshof and rode through to Hertzogville completing the 116 km in 8 hours. It may be too much to ask of my tiny pins and a single geared BMX but if I can repeat that feat another 3 times I will be home in time…
Will let you know how it all goes!
