Build for Brandon Wright
Posted in Random on 25. Sep, 2011
This post is a bit off the topic of pets and animals, but I felt the need to blog about this. Since my husband rides a motorcycle, this really hit home for me. You have probably seen and/or heard about this by now; Brandon Wright, a 21-year-old student living in Utah, was hit by a BMW while on his way to computer lab to study. This happened a couple of weeks ago.
Amazing, right? I’m really surprised he made it out of there alive. All of those people really put their lives on the line by getting that car off the ground in enough time for someone to pull Brandon out. He easily could have burned to death.
A few days later, Brandon held a new conference. “I ride that thing 95 percent of the time,” Wright said. “I love it. I cried when I saw the mashed bike. It’s ridiculous, I know.” While he is one to wear a helmet most of the time he is on his bike, he mentioned in the news conference a few days later, he was only going a couple of miles and just wanted to get there. He made the decision to not wear a helmet for this short drive. Unfortunately, even when you are a few miles from home, accidents happen no matter how close you are to your destination. The good news is, Brandon has no head injuries and he will recover. He does have multiple fractures in his right leg and pelvis, burns on his feet and a “pretty gnarly road rash.” In addition, his motorcycle is not salvageable. You can clearly see, if you watched the news conference, that he was absolutely crushed about his motorcycle. His bike, by the way, was a Honda that was transformed into a café bike. How do I know this? My husband rides one (pictured below). I should mention that I plan to take my Abate course next spring and the bike below is what I hope to be riding.
Isn’t she purdy? LOL! So, back to Brandon……my husband is a member of a motorcycle forum and the day the accident happened it was being shown every 15 minutes on all of the news networks. Someone posted the video on that forum. Not long after, it was discovered that Brandon is also a member of the same forum, as is his childhood friend. It was pretty apparent that everyone wanted to help build Brandon a new bike, so ideas started flowing and soon everyone was posting how they could donate this part or that part and donate their time, as well as money. My husband has a helmet that hasn’t been used and is still in the box, so we are waiting on the size he uses to determine if he can donate the helmet.
Why are these guys building a bike for Brandon? I’m sure there are many reasons, but one thing I know for certain is the bond between motorcyclists is pretty amazing. It’s something I can relate to in a way. I am a military brat. We (military brats) often talk about how the bond between military brats is something that people don’t get or can’t really understand. If this involved a military brat I am confident that once the word got out, fellow military brats would be bending over backwards to help. Motorcyclists take care of one another, look after each other. When one is in need you can be damn sure that help will come twofold. This is what is happening now. They are working together to make sure he has a set of wheels when he is able to ride again.
I learned some remarkable things about Brandon while doing my research for this post. One thing that struck me was his humanitarian work. Brandon spent two weeks this past summer in Tijuana, Mexico painting a school and building homes for those less fortunate. In his press conference from the hospital he touched a little on this; saying that he would like to continue doing humanitarian work.
It’s my understanding that parts are still needed for the motorcycle. If they can’t get the parts donated, they will need to buy them. If you would like to make a donation click here. If you want your donation to help towards the building of his new motorcycle, please specify this when you make your donation. Any amount will help and any amount will be greatly appreciated. Let’s help contribute to the building of a new motorcycle for Brandon. If anyone deserves to have this done, it’s definitely Brandon.
In love seeing communities come together like this. It is really heart-warming. That boy is lucky to be alive and he is even luckier to be a part of a group that wants to help him.
I’ve never ridden a motorcycle, but I skateboarded a lot when I was younger and it wasn’t until I began studying the brain that I realized how fragile our bodies really are. All it takes is around five minutes of unconsciousness as a result from head trauma to experience long term problems. I hope this man doesn’t experience any lingering effects by this accident, but it was a bit unsettling seeing him lying on the ground for such a long period of time….