Damian Cudlin - The boy is going to be back!

Hi Guys,

You don't know how good it is to be able to finally sit up and type an article for MCNEWS.COM.AU, and to be doing it knowing that I will race again!

As many of you probably know, I had a serious spinal injury a few months ago, and without turning it into a long and boring saga, I'll try to give you the edited version of what happened. Here's the story so far:

July 8th - Woke up Sunday morning looking forward to a good day at the final round of the Formula Xtreme at Eastern Creek. I had qualified 8th with a 1.34:8 - 7/10ths off pole, so I knew that the days racing would be really close.

Warm up came along and I headed out on my race bike. One lap in and I had a problem with the bike. I came into the pits and swapped to my spare bike. The guys warned me that the tyres were cold, and to take it easy, so I did.

I left pit lane, went round Turn 2 and headed into Turn 3 at about 50-60kph. As if out of nowhere I got hit from behind. I fell from my bike and almost at the same time as I hit the ground, I was hit hard in the back by the other bike. As soon as it happened I knew I was in trouble, although I didn't think I had broken my back, because I checked if I could move my legs before I even stopped sliding. I've had broken bones before, and this was the worst pain that I had ever had. I thought I might have broken my pelvis or had some sort of internal injuries because the pain spread like a burning fire all over my back & abdomen.

Tony Rees was the first person on the scene. He knew it was pretty bad, but he asked if I could move my legs, which I could. He took off to get my Dad. I was laying there for a while, and couldn't get up because the pain was bad. Dad turned up with the paramedics, and together they strapped me to a spinal board & took me to the clinic at the track. The paramedics were really great, and probably saved me from being in a wheelchair. If I had sat up or even moved in the wrong direction, it would have been all over.

I was then taken from the clinic to Westmead hospital where X Rays were taken of my neck & chest! I thought this was a waste of time because the pain was in my back, but thought they must have known what they were doing. They came back with the news that I didn't have any broken bones. I thought that maybe if the pain went away, I could maybe make the first race! They then decided to give me a CT Scan to check for internal injuries. There weren't any, but they did find a fractured vertebrae. The guy doing the scans came in and asked me if I had a sore back. Duh! This was the point at which I started to wonder whether they knew what they were doing.

They then gave me a back X Ray, and that showed up 2 smashed vertebrae & a dislocated spine, however the doctor on the ward told me that it was all lined up okay and that I would be back on a bike in 6 weeks time. I was really pissed off because I knew that I would miss a round of the Australian Superbike Championship, and that would blow my chances of finishing 2nd.

My Dad rang my Mum to let her know what was happening, and as her father had only died a couple of days before this happening, she said she would drive to Sydney the next day, She had been in Sydney on Saturday to see her father at the morgue, and had returned back to Newcastle with my Nan.

The next few days were spent waiting for the spinal specialist to show his face & tell us what his opinion was. My mum had come down for my pop's funeral, and I was a bit upset because I couldn't be there. He was a really great pop. She headed back to Newcastle and wasn't there when the specialist turned up to give us his views.

By the time he showed up I was surprisingly in no pain. In fact, I didn't even feel as though I had broken anything. I was still laying down, but already feeling frustrated.

The spinal specialist turned up after visiting hours 4 days after I was admitted to hospital. He told me that I had an explosive fracture to the L3 vertebrae, which had split into 5 pieces, and there were fractures also to L2. He also said that my spine was badly dislocated, and that I was within a millimetre of being a paraplegic. He said that I was highly unstable, and that I would need to have 2 9 inch rods, a heap of screws, along with a bone graft from my hip to carry out a spinal fusion of 5 vertebrae. He said that I would never be able to do a lot of things that I had previously done, and certainly would never be able to race a motorcycle again. He said I should feel lucky that I wasn't paraplegic, and stressed that I was still highly unstable and that the operation still had a risk of paraplegia.

Dad was with me at the time, and when the doctor left I started to cry. So did Dad. Although I was very thankful that I would still be able to walk, I was devastated that I had lost the dream that I have had since I was 5 years old. Dad rang Mum, who was driving back to Taree at the time. She immediately came back to the hospital. When Mum got there she came straight up to see me. I was pretty upset, and she was upset for me too. I just couldn't believe that my back was as bad as this doctor said. We had another opinion from a neurosurgeon at Westmead that said the same thing. Mum decided to get a 3rd opinion outside of the hospital. She contacted my managers, Peter Smylie & Michael Edgley, who rang around the sports specialists they knew, and came up with a top orthopaedic surgeon who specialised in spines and particularly sports injuries. Mum fought tooth & nail with the hospital to get all my scans copied & sent them to Dr Geoff Askin in Brisbane.

In the meantime the specialist from Westmead came back to see me, and started to pressure us to make a decision about having the surgery. He and Mum didn't really hit it off! Anyway, she told him we were waiting on another opinion. He didn't like that much.

Dr Askin rang Mum the night he got the scans. He agreed with the diagnosis of my injuries, and he agreed that my spine was unstable, but he disagreed on the treatment. He believed that I didn't need all that steel in my back, and that there was a possibility that it would heal without doing anything at all. His view was that if it healed good, then there was a chance that I could race again.

When Mum told the doctor at Westmead about Dr Askin's opinion, he said that we were bordering on insanity to even consider racing again! He stormed out of the room saying that he wasn't comfortable operating on me, and that maybe I should find another hospital to go to.

Later that night he came in and apologised to me for inferring that I was mentally unstable in wanting to race a motorcycle, and also said that after conferring with a number of his colleagues that perhaps a smaller spinal operation would work. He said that he had never been questioned by a patient before and didn't really handle it too well.

Do you believe this??

Anyway, at this stage we all decided that we should probably get the hell out of there and try to get Dr Askin to take over, but because travelling to Brisbane was too risky in the condition I was in, we opted for the old fashioned method of doing absolutely nothing. This would mean laying flat on my back in hospital without moving for the next 7 weeks. Shit! If it worked though, the outcome would be worth it - I would probably be able to race again.

That was the start of the most boring and frustrating 7 weeks of my life. If I had have seen one more episode of the Bold & the Beautiful I would have been permanently scarred. Over those 7 weeks I couldn't feed myself or wash myself. My sister, Desiree, stayed that whole time and looked after me. My Mum & Dad were there as much as they could be, but they had to get back to the business. My girlfriend, Amy, was there every weekend, but she was sitting for her HSC trials, so she had to get back to school. That left Desi to do all the dirty work. I owe her big time ( and I don't think she'll let me forget it). She was fantastic.

The 7 weeks basically consisted of weekly checks for blood clots, as that was the biggest risk with laying flat for so long. I was turned like a pig on a spit every 6 hours, and Desi rubbed my back for me. I didn't get any blood clots at all. They said that being young & fit was the reason why. Bed baths became a routine, and I looked forward to the Arjo shower once a week.( They let you go feral with a hose while laying in a special bed).

When the 7 weeks was up I had to have the plaster body cast fitted. They told me this would have to be done under a general anaesthetic because of the pain. I said I didn't want one and I'd try to have it done without it because I knew that after laying down for 7 weeks, an anaesthetic would make it harder to stand up for the first time. I was able to do it without it.

The next day I sat up for the first time, and felt fine. I then stood up and walked straight away and climbed a set of stairs. After that, I was out of there. I was told that it would take a couple of days to walk normally, but I had no problem. We packed the car and headed home.

I haven't gone into much detail about all the dramas that we had with doctors and nursing staff at the hospital, but all I can say is that I was relieved to get out of there.

As soon as we could we headed up to Queensland to see Dr Askin. He had a look at the old scans & had new ones done. He said my broken vertebrae were fusing together naturally, which was pretty amazing really. He said that because of my level of fitness, that my back would probably be alright. I asked the question, "Will I be able to race again?" and he said, "Sure, but not for at least another 12 weeks". I can't tell you how happy & relieved I felt.

He immediately had the heavy plaster cast cut off, and a special lightweight plastic strap on cast made to replace it. I can take it off to swim and more importantly, shower!

It was great having a shower for the first time in 10 weeks! I've got to spend the next 12 weeks building myself back up, but the most important thing is that I'll be 100% fit for next year. My back feels great now. I've already started training again, and will throw the back brace away in 4 weeks time. It was just a shame that I didn't get to finish higher up in this years championship. I'm spending the next few weeks talking to people about the 2002 season. Bike Biz may not run a team next year, so I am looking for a ride.

I would like to thank all of you out there for the fantastic support I got while I was in hospital. I received hundreds of emails, cards & letters from all over the world, and I have slowly started answering them. I will answer all of them eventually. At a time when I was at my lowest, it was great to have so many supportive people behind me. Thank you.

This terrible thing that happened to me has allowed me to see some aspects of life that I had never seen before. Some amazing things happened to me while I was in hospital. There were people who came & saw me in hospital who I had never met before, but who had heard about my accident. One man named Michael, an Indian fellow, said he had seen a vision about me, and was praying to St Mary Macillop for me. He brought me in Holy pictures of Mary Macillop and even an icon with part of her burial shroud on it. He said a miracle would happen. He came when I was at my lowest, and maybe a miracle did happen.

There were also people like Dale McVeigh and Tash, who visited me almost every night for 7 weeks, and he works for a team that I race against. He brought me in "medicine" every night (Jim Bean disguised in a can of coke). Maybe this is what healed my back. It sure helped me to get to sleep. Greg Lowrie sent me a truly inspiring book about Lance Armstrong - I'm not much of a reader but I read that one.

The list of people that came to see me was too long to put in this column, but I really appreciated each and every one of you.

I just want to say that I will be back next year and I know I can finish off what I have started.

Damian Cudlin