Writers say the best way to tell a story is to start at the beginning. This is a photo of a 200 cc Coleman mini bike. I purchased two at a St George sporting goods store. They offered a military discount so the price was great. I bought these for my kids to use when visiting. They require some assembly. Also being a good dad I would have to test ride them to make sure I put them together correctly. That is my official statement, in reality the kid in me won out. So on January 18 Martin Luther King day I loaded one up on my truck and headed for BLM public land near St George that I was familiar with. Arriving on site I unloaded the mini bike, started it with one pull, and headed down the road at a blistering 20 miles per hour. The bike worked great. However as a turned I hit loose gravel spilling the bike and hitting the ground with my left shoulder and chest. The impact took the wind out of me. I recovered quickly, uprighted the bike and headed back to the truck. The problem was I had not correctly adjusted the handle throttle and when I turned I hit the throttle causing the bike to spin out on the gravel. My shoulder and chest pain got worse. Thinking I cracked ribs or worse I went to first Instacare for x-rays and a D-dimer test to look for elevated blood protein. I got the test results in 3 hours and was told to go to the emergency (ER) immediately because my protein levels where elevated. At the ER
I was given a c-scan. The good news was I did not have a pulmonary embolism ( blood clots) but there was clouding suggesting COVID-19. I was tested and received the positive test result on the first anniversary of the first confirmed Covid case in the US. I thought I would just be able to quarantine at home. On January 26th I was admitted to the St George Regional Intermountain Hospital and began the fight for my life.
