Racers Helping Racers: Quick Action Saves a Life and the Race Goes On

 by Gus Grissom, Combat Correspondent

If you’ve ever caught yourself saying “I really felt like I was dying out there today” or “my legs were really dead on that last lap,” you need to rethink the orders of magnitude by which you judge your performance.  The phrase “felt really dead” is now the sole property of ABRT’s, Brian Fouche (Cat 1, Hagerstown, MD) who quite literally died during the Schooley Mill Cyclocross Race on November 20th. Thanks to the quick actions of his fellow competitors, however, he was pulled back from the brink and, according to his doctors, “will be able to do everything he did before this accident, including training and racing for next season.”

The day started off as any other ‘cross race, with racers warming up and working the pre-race jitters out of their legs.  After the first lap of the elite race, however, the lead group had started to form and a small gap was developing.  As David Bozak, Cat 1 racer from DC Velo, Clean Currents p/b Don Beyer Volvo, tried to bridge up to the leaders, he started to hear them shouting “medic!”  Seconds later, he noticed a rider on the side of the course, the obvious victim of a crash.  Bozak recalls, “my initial response was to push a bit harder to exploit the opportunity but something just didn’t look right.  He was so motionless on the ground that it just looked very unusual and bad.”  Bozak put thoughts of racing out of his mind and immediately pulled off the course to help the downed rider, Brian Fouche.  With the race rolling by and thoughts of his own results gone, Bozak’s medical training -- he is a practicing physiatrist with the Blair Orthopedics Group in Altoona, PA -- took over and he noticed several distressing signs that Fouche’s condition was rapidly deteriorating.  “Brian was completely non-responsive,” Bozak says, “and his pupils began to dilate.  Suddenly his body suffered several involuntary reactions that signaled to me that this was a real crisis.”  Just as Bozak realized the potential gravity of the situation, the worst potential became reality: Fouche’s breathing and heartbeat stopped.

Bozak knew exactly what to do and immediately began cardio-pulmonary respiration, focusing mainly on the chest compressions.  “I knew from my training that the most important thing was to keep the blood flowing to his brain, so I focused on getting consistent chest compressions.  As others came over to help, we were able to incorporate mouth-to-mouth respiration to help him get oxygen.”  The timely arrival and help from other, equally unselfish racers allowed Fouche to have a nearly uninterrupted flow of blood and oxygen to his brain and vital organs; though he could not breath on his own, his fellow racers literally kept breathing life back into him and increased his survival and recovery odds.

In short order the racecourse EMT’s arrived on the scene and Bozak says, “when the pros got there, we all stepped back so they could get the tubes into his throat and use to defibrillator to shock his heart back to life.”  Though initial defibrillation was not successful, Brian’s heartbeat and breathing were eventually restarted in the ambulance and doctors continued to stabilize him at the hospital where he remained for the next few days.  ABRT teammate Mike Hefner was among the friends to arrive at the ER. He reported that part of this stabilization included a medically induced coma and the use of an ice blanket to force Fouche’s body into a controlled state of hypothermia helping to limit the damage to his body.  Doctors slowly brought his core temperature back to normal over the course of the next twenty-four hours as the immediate danger passed.  They next performed surgery to implant a defibrillator near his heart to help if this problem should ever recur.  Fouche explains that “this implant will be tuned to a specific and unique heart rate maximum due to the fact that I am a competitive athlete.  But it will be there to manage my natural rhythms if they ever show signs of a problem in future races.”

Though Fouche has undergone a significant battery of tests and evaluations, he is still coming to grips with the fact that this is simply a very random occurrence and a final explanation of what happened may never be discovered.  The doctors have explained to him that they “are not sure exactly what is wrong, but what they think may have happened is an extremely rare heart situation.  Basically [his] heart rate became very elevated due to the physical exertion of the bike race and it just shut down.”  The doctors have hypothesized that one contributing factor may have been dehydration, simply not drinking enough water.  In reality, however, a final answer may never be given beyond the fact that Fouche is daily regaining his strength and doctors are confident that he will return to racing as early as next season.

Fouche is exceptionally grateful for this second chance at life, though he admits that things will change for him.  He says that this incident “gave me a new perspective on life, I'm so happy to be alive, have great family and friends, and I know appreciate each and every day.  Little stuff like racing a bike seems insignificant now.  Don't get me wrong.  It is fun and I love it, but it isn't important.”  What is really important to Fouche and what speaks volumes about the community of racers we spend so much time with is that Fouche says “there were just so many folks who helped me, visited me, and contacted me, that I just can’t possibly thank you all.”  When interviewed, Fouche wanted to make sure that everyone who helped, named and unnamed, knew how much he appreciated and continues to appreciate their emotional and physical support.  From the initial life-saving actions to the continuing life-sustaining support he is receiving, he says the response from the racing community has been “overwhelming.”

While Fouche reports that this near-death experience did not result in any visions of the afterlife -- and no reports on whether or not it’s a hilly course or a sprinter’s paradise up there! -- it does help us all to understand that when the chips are down and it’s time to act, there are a lot of all-around good folks out there on race day who will always be willing to do the right thing at the right time for the right reason.  Fouche and the rest of the ABRT squad are certainly grateful for this; the rest of us can only hope we never have such an opportunity to be grateful to this degree.

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Gus Grissom races for Team GamJams Racing, teaches Greek and Latin at DeMatha Catholic High School, and writes a dissertation in his spare time.  He contributes to GamJams strictly for fortune and glory.

 

Comments

[Jay Morali]

What a story! I am so happy to just be able to come out and be around such an amazing group of people. I now have a couple of new favorite riders to cheer for next year...Go Brian and David!!

[Craig Dodson]

I've come to know David Bozak over the past few years, and he's a class act in every respect. This sport is fortunate to have people like you in it.

Thank You David for being...well, you.

-c