Sorry I haven't returned most of your calls.  I've been really touched by 
the flood of support.  Bethany seconds that.  I read her some of the 
deluge of email from you all, which was really wonderful.

Pardon the quick brain dump here with all the updates I can think of, and 
sorry again for not responding individually!

Bethany's parents arrived this evening and I'll resume my trip to 
California in the morning.  Erica O and Valerie have been with her pretty 
much nonstop.  Shana and Alexis have spent big chunks of yesterday and 
today with her.  Thanks to Kevin L and Cyrus for spending hours with her 
too.

They are keeping her one more night in the hospital, but I'm 99% sure 
she'll go home tomorrow, with surgeries scheduled this week.

Phone numbers:	her parents (Bob and Judy): 703-298-9147 which can receive 
text messages.	the hospital room: 734-936-5415.  and of course I'm 
PEG-ARM-PAUL.

They had her motionless for 30some hours which got to be pretty 
uncomfortable to say the least but they finally signed off on her spine 
and neck being fine and a couple hours ago she was able to stand up and 
walk across the room.

There's no question that the recovery will be 100%.

Her jaw is broken in two places (in front and near the joint) but the 
joint itself is ok so the surgery will be straightforward (though will 
involve plates).  Several bones in her face are also broken, in the 
cheekbone area, but a little reconstructive surgery there will straighten 
all that out.

Her collarbone is fractured in two places but will heal fine with no 
surgery.

Oh, and her thumb I think is fractured but probably not too bad.
(Hmm, those may have been my exact words about my wrist -- that was one 
year ago today, incidentally.)

Road rash and bruising are both pretty minor.  And all damage is on her 
left side only, so that'll be handy.  Oh, wait, except the thumb. Damn.

More details about the accident itself:

No one interacted with the driver so can't say much about him.	The police 
gave him a ticket and all that.  He did stop and his insurance I'm sure 
will cover everything.	(If you've dealt with anything like this before, 
do let us know.)  Her bike -- the shiny new Lemond titanium bike she just 
got -- is an impressive sight.	The front wheel is utterly pringled and 
may have been literally run over.  Both the fork and the handlebars are 
snapped in pieces.  Et cetera.

A piece of the truck's front bumper was torn off and it was probably the 
side mirror (this was a very big pick-up truck) that Bethany's face 
impacted with.

Also, it was a stop sign, not a red light that the driver blew through. 
2-way stop and no question at all that it was 100% the driver's fault.

They cut off her jersey, which has an impressive bloody hole, and her 
watch is smeared with red paint from the truck.

(Ha, love the apropos random quote at the bottom of this email.)

Anyway, Bethany is absolutely herself, irrepressible spirit and all.
Prepare to be amazed at the rapidity of the bounce-back!

Thanks again, everyone!
  Danny

--- \/	 FROM Daniel Reeves AT 06.07.08 12:30 (Yesterday)   \/ ---

> Sorry for email; quickest way I can get this to everyone, particularly those 
> in ann arbor who can visit her fastest if she's going to be held at the 
> hospital which I don't know yet.  Erica O'Connor is with her now.
>
> Everything I know (from talking to Erica):
> They were on the Helluva Ride bike tour.
> Elderly-ish man in big pick-up truck flew through red light, hit her.
> Wearing helmet.
> Never lost consciousness or lucidity or anything.
> No one else hurt.
> In ambulance with Erica (who was skating it) arriving at UM hospital now.
> Likely injuries: collarbone and jaw broken, possibly lost teeth; i wasn't 
> clear on that.
> Police have her bike, tons of witnesses.

-- 
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves  - -  search://"Daniel Reeves"

"Helmet laws are bad for the gene pool." -- Bicycling Magazine