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| A recent picture of Charlie |
"In early August, 2015, Charlie Cunningham, bicycle builder, inventor and all around amazing person, fell off his bike and sustained several serious injuries.
Charlie suffered broken bones, bruises, and trauma to his head. At the time, he didn't feel his head injury was significant. Unfortunately, six weeks later, the head injury manifested into a subdural hematoma, a life threatening condition that resulted in emergency brain surgery.
Currently, Charlie is in the hospital, recovering. His condition is stable, semi-conscious, but he cannot walk, talk or safely swallow food yet. He is making very slow steps to regain very basic tasks. The road to recovery is going to be long and involve many specialists to help him get back to his former self. Charlie's wife Jacquie Phelan, racer and ladies cycling advocate, is teaching him basic speech, in tandem with his speech/swallow therapists. Their home will need modifications to allow him to live there. It is unknown know how long he will be wheelchair bound. Your donations will help to offset the costs of his rehabilitation and the "ramping up" of his home (Offhand Manor). Thank you for your generosity.
A bit about me: I'm a friend of Charlie and Jacquie's, since the 80's. An early Wombat and bicycle painter, just helping out a friend. All funds go to Charlie. :)"
I got a couple of emails directly from Charlie's significant other, WOMBATS founder Jacquie Phelan, confirming that the info on the GoFundMe page linked here is correct and Caroline James, the lady running the GoFundMe effort, is an old buddy of Charlie's and his web developer as well as a charter member of WOMBATS. Charlie is currently in his third week in an ICU.Its gonna be a long hard climb to the top of this one. -Khal
Marin Independent Journal article
Bicycling.com article written today about the crash here.
2 comments:
Hi Khal,
Thanks for this information.
I am a fan of Charlie, for his key work in the development of Mountain Bicycles, among other things. In some sense, he was a 'true engineer'. No offense to Steve of DFWPTP or any of the other awesome engineers who might visit your site :)
I will take a look at the fund raising site.
Peace :)
Just dropped off some dead presidents myself.
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