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Rockford man revisits site where he almost died after a bike crash

Dave Medema said he credits the passerby who called for help and his helmet for saving his life.

ROCKFORD, Mich. — Dave Medema of Rockford is thankful to be alive after a horrific accident almost claimed his life. 

May 10 marks two years since his bike crash and he said he's still on his way to meeting his goal of a lifetime.

“I would never have chosen this, I would never wish it on anybody,” Dave Medema said.

The crash happened when Medema came upon a tree hanging low over his path. 

“I hit my brakes so hard not to hit the tree, but I went over the top of my handlebars, I pulled the bike with me and the top of my head cracked the asphalt,” Medema said. "I would have been dead, but I had a helmet. So, no helmet I'm an organ donor on the spot, really.”

Dave and his friends visited the crash site on Friday, and although his life has changed forever, he’s more grateful for his family, friends and the things in life we sometimes take for granted.

Medema suffered a spinal cord injury, brain damage and was paralyzed. Rehabilitation at Mary Free Bed helped him regain his strength and independence, and because of that, he’s now riding with his friends again.

“We saw him persevere, we saw him stick to it, do the exercises, follow the directions and never give up,” said Denny Sturtevant, Medema’s friend of 40 years.

Medema said because of the accident, things in his life have slowed down a bit for the better.

“I’m a lot slower now, but not slowed down enough that I won't bike. I still ride at a pretty robust pace, but I just slow down on how quickly I work,” Medema said.

As a long-time cyclist, he has worked much of his life setting a goal that he’s almost accomplished — cycling for 100,000 miles. 

After the accident, he's just as motivated to reach his goal and with his friends’ support, he's confident he will.

“I thought maybe in my lifetime, a goal of six figures, 100k would be kind of fun to achieve, so I’m about 2,000 miles away from that. So about 98,000 down,” Medema said.

Since the accident, his wife said she has learned to be more compassionate and is thankful for every moment she has with Dave.

“Suffering has a way of either splitting you apart and terrorizing you apart, or that choice of saying we're going to, we're going to show up, and we're not going to fight reality,” Fenna Diephuis said.

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