In March of 2011, Rodney was rushed to Canberra Hospital after he was hit by a car whilst cycling near Gundaroo. Suffering from multiple serious injuries, Rodney had a long road to recovery ahead of him.
“I had a double compound fracture to my leg, I shattered my lower spine, broke two vertebrae in my back, ruptured discs in my neck, had cracks in my head, had road burns to my back, elbows and knees... and I chipped a tooth.”
Rodney had to remain on his back for 5 weeks following the accident. This was an incredibly difficult time both mentally and physically however Rodney still laughs when describing certain aspects of his experience such as sharing a room with other patients. “There were 4 or 5 people that I got intimately close with that I never saw their face!”
Following 5 weeks of lying flat, it was time for Rodney to begin the rehabilitation process. When asked about what it was like to start moving again he replied “It’s kind of interesting... When I was walking around my head was wobbly, I felt nauseous and I couldn’t eat because I was sick from standing up. Everything was out of whack. It took so much effort just to drink a cup of coffee.”
After a total of nearly 6 weeks in Hospital, Rodney was given the go ahead to return home. It didn’t take long for Rodney to decide that he wanted to do something to give back to the Canberra Hospital and to help patients going through a similar experience.
“I felt like I had to do something, I just couldn’t let that go without giving something back. The staff at the Canberra Hospital saved my life, mentally and physically.”
With his 40th birthday coming up, Rodney saw it as a perfect opportunity to get his friends and family together to thank them for their support and to fundraise for Occupational Therapy at the Canberra Hospital. By asking for donations in lieu of birthday gifts, over $1,500 was raised. Through another fundraising activity and a workplace gift matching program, Rodney has so far raised over $3,000 to assist patients in Occupational Therapy who, like Rodney, find themselves recovering from serious injuries.
Wanting to do more, Rodney came up with the idea of the Road of Bones Initiative or Robi for short. Robi aims to raise funds for the Canberra Hospital to assist with the recovery of cyclists that have experienced major physical and mental trauma as a result of bike accidents.
“I think the biggest thing I’ve learnt is to say I can’t control it...learn to surrender to some of it knowing that you will get better.”
You can find out more about Robi by finding it on Facebook or by contacting us. To donate to Robi and to help assist the recovery of injured cyclists, please click here and select ‘Road of Bones Initiative’ as the area you would like your donation directed to.
Rodney hopes that by creating the Road of Bones Initiative and by sharing his own story he can help to support the recovery of cyclists involved in road accidents.
“I just hope that Robi will bring awareness of the good work that the Canberra Hospital is doing and adulation for some of the trauma personnel. I want Robi to provide funding for things that might not be. I want a positive impact out of this.”
Pictured: Rodney presenting a cheque to Louise and Dominic from Occupational Therapy.