D.J. "Learning 2fly"

[lovethewater72]

This was taken off an motox board. I don't know her other than on the MX board, but thought others may. If I see an update I'll let you know.

Thumpettes, I just got a call from Darla Keiser, letting me know that she crashed her Ducati and unfortunately, gas spilled onto her legs and she suffered 2nd degree burns on her thighs and calves. While there appears to be no muscle damage, they are doing skin graphs, so I'm sure it's pretty painful.

She's in good spirits, but she'll be out of work for at least a few more weeks. It sounds like this might be a bit of a financial hardship, but she's working with her boss on the issue. I'll keep you posted. Most likely we'll just chip in anyway, to take care of a great lady. If you'd like to donate, pm me and I'll reply with my paypal address.

If anyone wants to call her, you can reach her at:
http://www.communitymedical.org/crmc.htm

She'll be in the hospital for another week, but if you want to send her something CALL FIRST. The burn unit has some specific requirements as to what can be sent (E.g Only silk flowers, no latex ballons etc...)

[Juice]

Myself, Kev, Dirty and Navaho made a ride out to Camp Claiborne with DJ. Prayers sent for a speedy recovery...


http://www.dualsportridersoflouisiana.com/photopost/data/500/100_2452_edited.jpg


http://www.dualsportridersoflouisiana.com/photopost/data/500/100_2450_edited.jpg

[Rocky]

I remember her, she moved away to another country California or something. Prayers sent.

[Dirty_Sanchez]

I called her earlier this AM to let her know she's in our thoughts but the machine picked up-I still told her anyway.

The last time we talked, she was full time Lawyering and in a new pad in Arabi or somewhere over on the westbank.

She was all stoked about how she could back her truck up to the levee and just ride her 250F into the bed to load up.

I didn't even know she had moved.

Great Gal she is.

Dirty

[lovethewater72]

This was from someone that spoke to her today.

After all the stuff she's been through, I have to say she was in pretty high spirits. The street bike accident actually happened over a week ago. She was in a turn and went slightly wide when her back tire slipped off the pavement. She's not sure how but the gas tank was punctured and it spilled gas on her and the pavement. The friction ignited the fuel as well as DJ. She has burns to her ankles (which are the worst), calves and skin grafts from her upper thighs. She also broke her scapula. They are expecting her to stay in the hospital burn unit for at least another week.

Her roommate is helping to take care of Sierra (her beautiful baby girl dog). Her mom is plannning to fly in once DJ is released to help her around the house.

Prayers sent

[Dusty]

Prayers sent.

[scootertrash]

Let us know if we can do anything Tiff.

[Navaho6]

Great Gal she is.

Dirty


Yes, she is. I hate hearing this. I'm praying that she heals quickly.

[Juice]

A little note from DJ'S myspace page

"a little cracked, but still I'm not broken"
Body: Just a quick bulletin, for those who didn't know, I've been laid up in the hospital since 9/2 after a wreck on the Ducati. I truly 'crashed and burned', somehow I ended up with gas spayed all over my jeans, so when the bike slid it ignited both the bike and my lower legs.

A HUGE "THANK YOU!" to Ernie & Kenny, who were first to reach me and helped me put out my legs, Ernie helping my get away from the flaming bike, Kenny taking the step of pulling off my shoes and socks, also on fire, singing the hair on his arms and ruining his riding gloves in the proces... don't know what shape I'd be in without you guys, your actions could well have saved my legs!

Statuts so far, I was discharged from the hospital last night, and staying with boyfriend David for the next couple of days, who is taking excellent care of me! I still need a lot of help getting around, and my mom is flying in from Michigan on Sunday to help me out for a couple of weeks so David can get back to work.

Injury details: I had 2nd degree burns on both my lower legs, the left worse than right, with deep abrasions (severe road rash exposing tendons & other stuff) on my right ankle, right hip, right shoulder, and a fractured scapula and right third rib. They took skin grafts from almost my entire left thigh and a small portion from my right thigh, and removed the dead tissue from my lower legs and grafted this thigh skin to these areas, and also grafted over the road rash on my right shoulder. My lower legs look like a patchwork quilt, like Sally in the Nightmare Before Christmas! The thigh doner sites are ugly but they tell me there should be minimal scarring there, and I'm hoping for the best for my lower legs. I still need to go to Fresno for wound care every other day, and will have outpatient surgery on the road rash on my side, to close it up once it heals enough to do so without having an empty pocket under the skin. I'm hoping to get back to work in two weeks, but they are telling me now maybe a month. :( Hopefully I can prove them wrong!

For the riders out there, the only thing I'd suggest is make sure your gear fits properly... I was wearing a summer jacket, but it was loose on me, and I think all the padding was just pushed out of the way in the slide. A 'real' leather jacket would have prevented the hole in my shoulder and my hip, I think. I'd also never again ride without boots over the ankle... don't know if it it would have helped with my burns, but without the fire, it would have prevented the deep hole now in my right ankle, which was completely exposed in my tennis shoes.

Don't know how quick I'll be to pick up another street bike. This is my second serious accident in 10 years, and I feel like I'm running out of lives! Might get more into trail riding the YZ250F for a while... and it'll be a while before I'm even able to do that, I'm told my skin grafts are going to be delicate for a long time. And my finances are going to be tough, being out of work this long, although work is doing what they can to work with me, being that I've only been with them a little over three months!

And I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has called &/or posted 'get well' wishes, it means a lot to see so much support! I've gotten calls from Michigan, Louisiana, So Cal, Cen Cal... and a bunch of visitors at the hospital, it was great! Once I get settled back into my own house on Sunday, feel free to stop by!

In the immortal words of Bad Religion:

"Oh yeah, I know I'm not broken,
A little cracked, but that amounts to nothing
I wanna laugh but I'm not joking
I'm unbroken
I said "I'm unbroken"
I'm really not broken!"

[Juice]

Some graphic after pics from the accident.


http://www.dropshots.com/l2fly

[Swampy]

LOL.... Spammer strikes again.... Why do they drag up old post???




BTW.. From the look at her photo albums she healed up nicely...

[Zutopong]

Glad to hear that she was not seriously injured.