Words By: Gary Flint
On Thursday, 11th of October 2012, the lives of Richard Holland and his family changed forever. Whilst training for an Ironman Triathlon, Rich was hit from behind by a car and sustained multiple life-threatening injuries, including a severe injury to his brain stem, resulting to a persistent coma.
Back On Your Bike has been established to assist Rich Holland and his family by raising money to cover his immediate and future medical care.
Rich’s condition is now stable, but he remains in a state of very low consciousness (semi-coma) and requires intensive medical supervision to care for him round the clock. Rich faces an unknown hospitalisation period. After a severe brain injury, particularly to the brain stem, which controls motor function, it is only possible to guess at the recovery time and the likely outcome. All that is certain is that recovery is a slow process and will take months and years, rather than weeks.
Rich has received excellent medical care in Dubai from both Rashid Hospital and The City Hospital. However, a key step in his recovery involves admitting him into a neuro-rehabilitation facility where he can receive the best possible rehabilitation therapies for a brain stem injury. As soon as he is stable enough, Rich will be medically repatriated to either a facility in his home country, South Africa, or a facility in Australia where his immediate family currently reside. Moving Rich back to South Africa or Australia means he can be given the intensive medical care he needs along with the much-needed support of friends and family.
According to projected medical bills, Rich’s health insurance (AXA) will run out soon and he will then have no remaining cover. At this stage, he will not have medical cover in South Africa. AXA have graciously agreed to cover Richard’s medivac flight when he leaves Dubai and we are so grateful. Reachable fundraising goals have been set for the various stages of Rich’s recovery. The first fundraising target of 150,000 USD will cover the most pressing medical expenses and those of the next few months. These targets will be increased as we learn more about the Rich’s recovery process.
Given the uncertainty of the recovery period, the total fundraising target is set at 1,700,000 USD. This amount has been estimated based on the first six weeks of treatment, the multiple surgeries he has already undergone, as well as future scheduled procedures, physiotherapy (neuro and physical) and the projected amount of rehabilitation treatment required in the long term. This amount was validated using information from the DANA Foundation which calculates the lifetime expense of a coma patient between 600,000 and 1,875,000 USD.
The road to recovery will the toughest challenge Rich has ever faced. We all know him as a young man in the prime of his life; a fighter of fierce courage and steely determination. We believe that with love, care and support, Rich will get back on his bike and continue to live his life doing the things he loves so much.
Editor’s Note:
Continuing their campaign, the group also hosted a movie fundraiser on December 18 at Grand Cinemas in the Ibn Battuta Mall. Friends and family watched the premiere of the drama film “The Impossible” starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts. The film is based on a true story of a family’s struggle during the tragic Southeast Asian tsunami disaster in 2004. As the group stated, “Depicting moving scenes of determination and hope, this movie is a great opportunity to help maintain support and get Richard back on his bike.” All tickets sold at 100 AED in Revolution Cycles, Adventure HQ, Ride Bike Shop, The Cycle Hub, Wolfi’s Bike Shop and during the Spinney’s Dubai 92 Cycle Challenge went directly to the Back on Your Bike fund.
For more information or to donate, please check out the website www.backonyourbike.com.
