VANCOUVER – For most people, a serious accident with lasting injuries would be a painful memory, but for one 32-year-old Victoria man, a longboarding accident might just have saved his life.
Adam Swales was riding his longboard when a pebble got stuck under his wheel and he toppled forward – hitting his head on the road. He was not wearing a helmet.
But it was that moment that likely saved his life. He was taken to Victoria General Hospital where he spent two days in a medically-induced coma after doctors had performed emergency surgery to reduce swelling in his brain. When that didn’t work, more tests were ordered to find out what was wrong.
“I went for a MRI scan and they found a tumour,” says Swales. “The last thing on my mind was cancer.”
Ninety per cent of the tumour has now been removed and the remaining 10 per cent will have to be treated with chemotherapy. “Doctors say I could have been dead within the year,” says Swales.
However, doctors are warning Swales is the exception. “Believe it or not, 60 kilometres an hour, hitting a vehicle, or a vehicle hitting you, you’ve got an 80 to 85 per cent chance of dying in that collision as a pedestrian, as an un-helmeted individual or as a longboarder who hits a car at that particular speed,” says Dr. Richard Stanwick, medical health officer.
“So we’re seeing a lot of very serious injuries associated with these longboards and we still recommend wearing a helmet.”
Swales is now trying to raise $25,000 to cover his costs while he recovers, before he can get back to work. Anything beyond that will be donated.
He says he’s not going to give up his longboard anytime soon. “It should be framed, it saved my life,” he says.
– With files from Kylie Stanton
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