damian cudlin.....

[gomick]

talented australian superbike rider damian cudlin was seriously injured in a warmup crash before last weeks final round of the formuula xtreme championship......cudlin has a bad back injury and is rumoured to not be able to play any contact sport for the rest of his life which means he wont be riding a motorbike again (incase he crashes).....a bloody shame as damian was running 3rd in the australian superbike championship and would have been a title favorite next year .....i just hope that i have not been informed properly and that damian has a speedy recovery and gets back out there and does what he does best, all the best damian

[Alan Jones]

Bad news Gomick and as a sufferer of the old bad back, can only hope you are wrong as they do limit your options when it comes to taking risks. All the best Damian and hope you get a better diagnosis. To fellow sufferers, try the Alexander technique and swim reguarly, great excercise for people with a less than perfect spine

[elephino]

This is from mcnews.com.au

----

Damian Cudlin Injury update - July 13

If you hadn't read all about it here already Damian Cudlin had an
accident during warm-up at Eastern Creek last weekend.
After the incident Damian was admitted to Westmead Hospital with
spinal injuries.

Doctor's told him that he had an explosive fracture of one of the
lower vertebrae, and has another vertebrae with a smaller fracture. The most
damaged vertebrae has been broken into 5 pieces, and the CT scan showed that
the shards of bone bent a certain way, but if they had actually bent in the
opposite direction, they would have severed or damaged his spinal chord.

We told you most of this yesterday but unfortunately the diagnosis has
changed somewhat overnight. Damian has now been told that he will have to
have major spinal surgery which will include fusing some of the lower
section of his back and also the insertion of metal rods along the length of
his spine. His back is also dislocated but they will have to fix the back
in it's dislocated position as the possibility of paraplegia should they
straighten it, is simply too high.

Damian has also been told that in all likelihood he will never be able
to play a contact sport again or ride motorcycles as if he is involved in
any sort of incident there is a high risk of him becoming a paraplegic.

The surgery will possibly be done early next week. Damian will then
be in a back brace for a number of months and also have to participate in
intensive physiotherapy for up to a year, or maybe even longer.

This is of course a huge blow to Damian, a young motorcycle racer who
had the fire in his belly and raw talent to possibly make it to the top.
That dream for Damian looks to be over now and as you can imagine Damian is
devastated but family have told us that, all things considered, Damian is
taking it well.

But of course we all have to look on the bright side and see the fact
that Damian will, in all likeliness, come out of this in reasonably healthy
state even though he will not race motorcycles again. Damian will look for
a new challenge to throw himself in to I have no doubt. The first challenge
will involve him working hard to get his body back in to the best shape he
possibly can, who knows where things will go after that. I am sure Damian
will excel in whatever path he chooses.

We will continue to follow Damian's progress here and we thank his
family for keeping us informed and allowing us to keep you informed.

Send your well wishes here and we will ensure they are passed on

If anyone would like to send Damian cards
etc, he is at Westmead hospital, Wing D, Level 4A, Bed 16.

[Alan Jones]

Thanks Elephino

AJ