Bryson Perry, the veteran Utah cyclist and 2x Leadville Trail 100 champion, whose career has spanned professional road racing, cyclocross and elite mountain biking, is recovering at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah USA following a near-fatal crash in Puerto Rico.
Perry, 47, went down hard on an MTB track, suffering a broken femur, fractures to his neck, back, wrist, and sternum, seven broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a broken wrist. For any cyclist, the list of injuries alone is staggering. For someone who has competed at the highest levels of the sport for decades, it is a brutal reminder of how quickly fortunes can turn on two wheels.
What followed the crash compounded the nightmare. Perry spent five days in two Puerto Rican hospitals without receiving the complex surgical treatment his injuries demanded. Local facilities, overwhelmed with patients, were simply unable to perform the procedures he needed.
A Life Flight jet ultimately evacuated him and his wife Summer back to Utah, where he has since undergone multiple surgeries. They described the arrival of the medical flight crew as a turning point after days of uncertainty and fear.
The road ahead is long. Recovery is expected to span many months, including extended time in hospital and rehabilitation. Medical costs could reach well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, with insurance coverage for the less than adequate Puerto Rico portion of his care still unresolved.
The cycling community has rallied around the Perrys, who have set up a GoFundMe to help with medical costs. So far $79,420 USD has been donated.
Perry started his successful racing career off-road, winning back-to-back MTB victories at the world famous Leadville Trail 100 race in 2001 and 2002 before switching to road racing, where he competed in three editions of the professional Tour of Utah. Since 2016 Perry and his wife have managed one the top the top junior development mountain bike programs in North America – Rouler Devo.
Perry’s story is a sobering one for athletes who travel internationally to ride and race. Keep in mind that when shite happens emergency medical care and evacuation might be required – like Perry. So make sure health insurance coverage is adequate or purchase separate travel insurance. It is cheap compared to how much it costs to hire a Life Flight jet to fly you home for medical care…
Photo Credit: Instagram/roleurdevo
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