Thursday October 14, 2021

You can never leave footprints that last if you are always walking on tiptoe.
Leymah Gbowee

 

 

A mountain biker in Minnesota was given life-saving surgery on the side of the trail by a passing ER surgeon.

Todd Van Guilder was riding on the Cuyuna Lakes Trails recently when he crashed and fell on his stomach and chest. When he sat up he was struggling to see and starting to have difficulty breathing. His riding buddy called 911 and before long 6 emergency service workers were on the scene.

After assessing his condition, paramedics decided he would need oxygen and a police officer volunteered to jog three-quarters of a mile back down the trail to the parking lot to grab a tank. Thankfully, on the way down, the officer passed 38-year-old Jesse Coenen, an emergency room doctor from Wisconsin, who was visiting the trails.

Coenen uses mountain biking to wind down from 13 hour shifts in the ER, but sprung into action when he heard what had happened. He and his riding friend rode down to the parking lot to fetch the oxygen and then rode it back to where Van Guilder was lying unconscious...read more