<p>Teriwtt, I hope your husband makes a full, speedy recovery. I’m glad he was wearing his helmet.</p>
<p>HImom, good idea to brainstorm on helping the pre-med in what must be an absolutely awful time for her.</p>
<p>Yes, D says she’ll be OK with the 4 of us getting together for a meal and perhaps brainstorming. The other mom is the sweetest thing–she and I had previously tried to think of ways to help, shortly after the dad was hospitalized and ended up just sending cards because we couldn’t think of anything that wouldn’t be too weird coming from us who don’t know the family well. D has really stunned from all this negativity she’s been getting from pre-med GF. (She’s referring to the gathering affectionately as a “playdate” for the moms. :))</p>
<p>Gossip would never cross our minds–we love this young woman as our other daughter and just want to help her through this tough time. D & the other friends would never leave her to fight her challenges and demons alone. They do recognize that circumstances may change their relationships but plan to stick together.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not sure anyone was saying that a helmet was the “cure-all”. But , that said, its like a seatbelt. Sure, in a minority of cases the seatbelt might cause more problems than it solves, but for the large majority of cases seatbelts save lives. Everyone should wear a seatbelt. Ditto for helmets. While my goal is not to derail this thread, suffice it to say, when one works in the field of head injury/brain injury, one see some pretty not nice stuff, and a lot of preventable stuff. Totally agree that drivers and cyclists should be careful on the road. Absolutely. That said, I will repeat, WEAR A HELMET. It is better to have something between one’s head and the road then nothing. Thank heavens Teriwtt’s DH is not seriously injured from a cognitive standpoint. Who knows if the poor gentleman described by the OP would be in better shape cognitively if he had a helmet on. We will sadly never know.</p>
<p>HIMom- I have sent you a message. One good resource to start with - [Brain</a> Injury Association of Hawaii](<a href=“http://www.biausa.org/Hawaii/]Brain”>Hawaii - Brain Injury Association of America)</p>
<p>And I will say, stop talking about wearing a helmet, which makes a difference in a minority of bike/car accidents, and start talking about how to prevent the accidents in the first place. If I get hit by a car hooking, and I’m wearing my helmet as I always do-- I was just hit by a car. If that car learns how not to right hook me, how not to left hook me-- then I don’t have an accident.</p>
<p>And a helmet is not like a seatbelt. It provides some protection, but not very much. I can easily off the top of my head list recent deaths of cyclists wearing helmets and cycling within 15 miles of my house. Accidents have causes. We can prevent them. Helmet wearing does nothing to prevent accidents, and very little to prevent cyclist death.</p>
<p>Thank you for the continued opportunity to educate people on sport safety. Skiing, rollerblading, biking, etc are all safer with the use of a helmet. If you didn’t think so, you wouldn’t wear one. But wear then correctly-- pull them down to protect the forehead. Agreed, they are no panacea, and helmets alone are not sufficient to prevent a head injury. Agreed, please ride safely and watch for traffic. Drivers, watch for cyclists.
Now, lets please not derail this thread.</p>
<p>** Forgot to mention,this made me LOL-- as you can only imagine what this first sounded like!
LOL!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Just some data on the use of helmets as they relate to fatalities. Stuff happens. On and off main roads. Riders and drivers get distracted. Off road there are sticks, twigs, pedestrians, joggers, equipment failure, you name it. Safety first, on ALL fronts.</p>
<p>One of the saddest ironies is that pre-med’s dad is an anesthiologist who saw more than his share of trauma injuries in his many years of practice, including countless head injuries. I am so sad at events that have transpired.</p>
<p>Thanks to all of you for your support. I know my D will be fine but we really do want to do what we can to support and help her hurting pre-med friend.</p>
<p>If the situation should become worse between your D and the pre-med, I would support her in distancing herself from her friend. Her friend maybe going through something that your D is not equipped to handle, by being a punching bag for her friend is not necessary a solution for the friend. We are all taught to stand by our friends, through thick and thin, but sometimes a problem is too big, and your D may just need to walk away because I am sure she has her own problem to deal with.</p>
<p>D is handling this all well and has the support of their mutual friends; it is partly that she is in a role she had envisioned herself being placed in. Premed student also has their support. Thanks for all of these thoughts.</p>