Sad News

[Teddy Lancaster <Teddy@runningbear.com>]

To all our friends:

We made it home from the Biltmore ride in NC just
fine, but yesterday, Ed went riding and when he
did not come home by dark, I went looking for
him.  No luck, so I called my friend Scott Mootz
who came over and we drove to all the trail heads
and road crossings. No sign of Ed.  We called and
called, looked for hoofprints (in dry ground -
hah). Found nothing.

At 11PM I called 911 and by midnight,  at least 6
ATV's, the EMT's, the county Sheriff's department,
another friend, Rick Edge on horseback were
assembled on my front lawn.  Since Scott knows the
trails and I knew what trails Ed might have taken,
Scott lead the search.

At 12:30 the horse was located. Zach was on his
way home about to cross a road when Rick spotted
him and put him on his trailer and brought him
home.  Another friend, Jeff and I took Zach to the
barn to check him over.  He did not so much as
have a hair out of place nor was any tack missing
or awry.  It was then surmised that Zach had been
on his way home for some time and that Ed was
still somewhere deep in the National Forest.

At 2:30 AM I received a call from the Sheriff's
office stating they had located Ed and that he was
conscious...that's all.  He had been lying on the
ground, unable to move for at least 7 hours by
that time. At 3:00 AM, Jeff, his Mom, Anne, and I
drove to the trail heads and found the rescue
squad.  There was a helicopter flying overhead
with spotlights on the ground (well the deep
woods) and we got the report that Ed was being
stabilized 2 miles back on a ridge and was to be
transported out and air flighted to a hospital.

At 4:00 they still did not have him out of the
woods and since the air flight was 5 minutes and
the drive 45, we decided to leave.  Jeff dropped
his mother off at home, unloaded the ATV and
handed me his pick-up truck to go to the
hospital.  I arrived at the Hospital at 5 AM, Ed
had just arrived.

He had hurt his back so they immediately took
x-rays and did a cat scan which showed that he had
fractured two vertebrate.  Since he had no
movement below the waist, they did an MRI at 1:30
PM today and determined that the spinal cord was
being pinched.  The latest news is that they will
attempt to reduce the swelling in hopes that the
release of pressure on the spinal cord will
prevent the need for surgery.

Prognosis is that he will in all likelihood need
at least SOME surgery to stabilized the
fractures.  He is in the ICU Unit at
Cabell-Huntington hospital in Huntington, WV (30
miles away). Address: Ed Paige c/o
Cabell-Huntington Hospital, 1340 Hal Greer
Boulevard, Huntington, WV 25755 Phone number for
the ICU Unit is 304-526-2385.  They will not allow
anyone to talk to Ed and will only give limited
information. Visiting hours are 7:30 AM to 8:00
AM, 11:30 AM to 12:00 noon, 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM. At
this time, Ed is immobilized and on pain
medication.  Visiting is not advised at least for
this first week.  I will visit him at least once
every day.

We live in what I call the foothills of the
Appalachians on a small farm right on Wayne
National Forest where we can ride all year right
from our barn.  We stay to ourselves and do not
know many of the people in the area. We often ride
alone.  Ed was wearing his helmet.  The horse he
rode is an unflappable and reliable gelding named
Zach who evidently wanted to go home faster than
Ed wanted to and upon applying the "brakes", Ed
got flipped over Zach's head.

I want to say that I was highly impressed with the
caliber of the entire search and rescue staff as
well as the Sheriff's department and the EMT's.
Everything was handled in a very professional and
caring manner These people really know what they
are doing. The hospital staff has been very kind
and informative with their major concern being
Ed's comfort and well-being  I am deeply grateful
to those who helped someone who is otherwise
stranger to them.

Needless to say, I have not slept much.  Those of
you who know us, know we are almost constantly
together and have our fair share of squabbles.  It
goes to the depth of your heart when someone like
this is so badly injured.  The bottom line is that
one quickly realizes just how important their
relationships really are.  I have not cried or
worried this much in years and it is nice to know
I still can.

Please bear with me as my business, though not
being neglected, will play a second seat to my
concerns for Ed and his needs in the coming days,
weeks and months.

Please do not inundate me with e-mails.  Short
notes are fine.  It is, right now, too stressful
for me to handle anything more than absolutely
necessary.  Those of you who wish to have daily
updates, please let me know and I will include you
in a daily report...at least for the next week or
so.

--
Teddy Lancaster

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Next Attending the Liberty Run Endurance ride, May
24-28, 2001

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If they are shooting at you, you must be doing
something right--

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Does this mean I cannot tell the Emperor he has
no clothes unless I have a Kingdom?
--
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Running Bear Farm, Inc.
1348 Township Road 256
Kitts Hill, Ohio, 45645 USA  -
http://runningbear.com/
1-800-533-2327, FAX: 740-533-0337

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