Living life again
Well it’s been a week or so since my last update but things have been busy as hell for me. As well as trying to get around and see and thank people, last weekend i went to an MRA race in Hastings Nebraska. The track there is one of my favorite not only because of the layout, but also the atmosphere when at the track thanks to the track owner George.
I was a little nervous about being there as i have had a couple of ‘flashbacks’ to the crash and they didn’t go down well, so i was kind of nervous i would freak out at the track. Thankfully everything went very well, only 5 people knew i was going so there were some very surprised people indeed, people would do the double take when the saw me as i lost a ton of weight and was upright and walking around. At the riders briefing on Saturday i got on the microphone and thanked everyone for everything they have done, i had a lot more to say planned but it just didn’t feel right and everyone was anxious to get racing as i always was.
I was mainly there to help out my good friends Shannon and Segren as Segren was about to give birth at any moment, i had to keep telling her to sit down and relax which was quite funny. It was really great to be back at the track, to be involved and feel useful, and i cant thank them enough for giving me the chance to try it. In the process of helping Shannon i had a steady stream of people asking me for setup and tactics advice which was cool. It also made me realize there was a huge hole waiting to be filled by someone to not only build decent motors but also give setup and race tactics advice.
I have always been very mentally strong, heck that is why i have recovered quite well when they gave me 0% chance of any type of survival at all from my injuries, let alone any type of recovery. At the track i have always been very mentally strong and ready to overcome things that may crop up, i also noticed a major lack of riders being mentally strong at the track, which is very different to being over confident. I made some great gains with Shannon during the weekend but to be honest while we worked on his bike setup most of the gains were mentally. I have already talked with a few people about starting a business to help fill the void, as with everything else in my life at the moment time will tell i guess.
I went down to see the guys and girls at Rocky Mountain Kawasaki where i used to work before the crash to say hi, it was really great to see everyone again. I was offered some part time work which is great, with the economy being slow it actually works out well as i can ease back into working without too much pressure, of course i will have lots of pressure on myself but that isn’t anything new.
So yeah, life is slowly getting back to normal, although i am not really sure what is normal for me anymore as so much has changed.
Like i said, with most things in our lives time will tell.
May 30th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Hey Aary, great to talk just now. i promise I will get skype this weekend! You make us all so proud back here. Glad to hear that bike engine is being owned by the Clark-ster once again. You rock babe xx
May 30th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Clarkie-
It’s great to hear that you’ve made your way back out to the track. Might a visit out to HPR be in the plans soon? It would be great to see ya.
May 30th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Hey Aaron,
It was really nice to come over and say hi, shake your hand, and officially meet you. Sorry I interrupted your lunch though, haha! You and your determination, strength, and confidence are all something everyone can look up to and that does include me. All of us at MPH Hastings are very happy that you came and we hope to see you next year as well!!! Take care and God Speed
May 31st, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Hi Aaron
I’ve been following your progress since your accident and like so many other people, all I can say is “WOW”. You are one son of a gun! I truly hope your ’second life’ brings you even more fulfilment as obviously you’ve learnt so much since your life changing race.
I hope I’m not asking too much here……….but wondered if you had a few minutes during some down time to send a message to my stepson Darryl(18yrs). Your Dad knows of his situation and sent a lovely card to us as he trained my husband Mike Sabin nearly twenty years ago on the farm he was working at that time. He obviously didn’t know of the connection either of me previously being married to Danny!
Anyhow, Darryl suffered a catastrophic/traumatic brain injury on Anzac Day (25 April) while playing rugby at Te Hapua in the Far North. He wasn’t expected to live and for the first two days we were told to prepare ourselves for the worst. However Darryl (being Darryl and sharing some similar traits to you I’d suggest) on day 3 wiggled his toes and gave the Dr’s some indication he was not ready to give up. Since then he’s made slow but steady progress to the point he was discharged from the HDU at Akl hospital last Mon 25 May and admitted to a brain injury rehab all while still being in a coma!
We took the liberty also of setting up a website similar to yours, as we’d all been following your progress……so hope you don’t mind. It’s getwelldarryl.com
We’re reading the messages out to Darryl so if you have any words of wisdom from your experience that you think may help I know Darryl would be blown away to hear from you.
Sorry for taking up so much space with this and I hope you don’t think I’m being too cheeky, this was the best way I could think of getting in contact quickly.
Best regards
Catherine
June 1st, 2009 at 8:43 am
It’s good to hear that you’ve got some opportunity for part time work, that’s a great way to more slowly get back into things along with all the other adjustments you’re going through being back home.
I’m sure people will benefit from your experience on the track, doing well on the track really requires preparation and focus on so many levels.
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:29 am
Aaron,
It was really good to have you at the track at Hastings. I kept seeing you treking back and forth to the hotpit and I was amazed everytime I saw you WALK by. I was telling someone the other day that you had had so many miracles happen in your recovery. Truly amazing. So even though we didn’t get a big chance to visit at Hastings, I want you to know that we were so happy to have you there, doing your thing. Mark said he wanted to give you a big hug but wasn’t sure it was appropriate. So I will just pass it along to you in spirit. We really hope to see you at High Plains this weekend. It makes our race family feel complete.
Tammy
June 6th, 2009 at 1:04 am
I did a double take at Miller WSBK last week. It was not you.
Im glad you made it to any track.
I would think your services would be in great damand. Good luck.
Thanks for the updates.
Ted
June 7th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Aaron,
Glad to see you back in the states and doing well, I hope to see you at Miller some time, Dave.
June 10th, 2009 at 12:26 am
Aaron, I truly enjoyed your last post. Yes, time will tell, but there is no doubt that you are on the right path.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Hey Aaron – from one yankee Whangarei boy to another, nice to hear you are on the mend. I have been following your progress – pretty amazing stuff. Rich Huff and my parents told me the news all those months ago and what a ride you have been on since then! God bless and I hope we can reconnect one of these days. Craig.