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Protecting your noggin
Following serious bike accident,man
vows to wear bike helmet in future
By Paul Swiech
pswiech@pantagraph.com
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BLOOMINGTON - To neurosurgeons who operated on Craig Hoobler, he was “a save” because he came so close to dying.

His wife, Caryl, is “amazed at what he has been through.”

But Hoobler, his wife and surgeons agree: Hhis brush with death was preventable.

Hoobler, 42, of Bloomington, wasn’t wearing a bicycle helmet when his bike hit a raccoon in a freak accident on Constitution Trail on June 25.

Hoobler sustained a severe head injury and may have died within an hour if not for a Rollerblader who took him immediately to the BroMenn Regional Medical Center emergency department in Normal, and for neurosurgeons and other medical professionals who quickly diagnosed him and performed the surgeries that saved his life.

Hoobler has largely recovered. He and his wife and neurosurgeons are using his experience to talk about the importance of adults, teens and children wearing bike helmets.

“It’s worth it,” Caryl Hoobler said of wearing a bike helmet. “We’re here because of Good Samaritans, good doctors and good nurses. Things can change in an instant. Put that helmet on!”

Hoobler said, “I sure didn’t think any critter would go in front of me. If I had a helmet on, maybe I would have had a slight concussion, but nothing like this.”

His wife added “It’s better to wear a helmet than to chance going through something like this.”

Dr. Ann Stroink, of the Central Illinois Neuroscience Foundation and Central Illinois Neuro Health Sciences in Bloomington, and Dr. Tommy Reeder, a neurosurgery resident in his fourth year of training with the foundation, said all bicyclists, motorcyclists, in-line skaters, skateboarders and people who use scooters and other wheeled transport should wear a helmet.

“Everyone who gets on their bike thinks it (an accident) will not happen to them,” Stroink said. But she said neurosurgeons in Bloomington-Normal treat several head injury cases each month during the warmer months and some of them are of bicyclists who weren’t wearing helmets when they fell.

“I’m a bicyclist and Reeder is a motorcyclist and we are simply amazed by the number of people who don’t wear helmets,” Stroink said.

“If he (Hoobler) would have been wearing a helmet, there’s an 85 percent chance that he would have had no head injury,” Stroink said.

Hoobler has learned his lesson. When he gets back on his bike in the spring, it will be with a new helmet.

Hoobler is a Gridley native who has worked at Country Insurance & Financial Services in Bloomington since 1990 as a machine operator, operating a mail sorter.

“I walk a lot,” Hoobler said. In April 2006, he decided he wanted to do another physical activity and chose biking, remembering how much he enjoyed biking in high school.

He bought a $10 used bike. After it fell apart, he bought a new bike.

“It felt good,” he said of biking. “I really enjoyed it. It just seemed relaxing.”

He quickly established a routine. After work, he’d change clothes and ride to Constitution Trail. He would ride 15 miles on weekdays and 25 to 30 miles on Saturday and Sunday.

By October, he’d lost 22 pounds. He took it easy during the winter but resumed bicycling in March.

He never wore a helmet. Because most of his bike riding was on Constitution Trail rather than on the street, he didn’t think he needed a helmet.

“I felt comfortable with a bandana to keep the sweat off,” he said. “Besides, 95 percent of the people (bike riders) out there don’t wear helmets and few of the Rollerbladers wear helmets.”

On Monday, June 25, after work, he changed as usual, got on his bike and hit the trail. He was riding east and had just crossed over Linden Street on the bridge about 5:30 p.m.

“All I remember was there was a raccoon right there and I had no time to turn,” Hoobler said. “The last thing I remember was seeing the critter.”

Caryl Hoobler said eyewitnesses told her that her husband hit the raccoon, his chest hit the handlebars and then he went over the handlebars and off the bike. The right side of his head hit the pavement and he flipped over several times. He lost consciousness for only a few minutes.

Two other bicyclists stopped and hailed a Rollerblader, who put Hoobler in her Jeep, wrapped a beach towel around his bleeding head and took him to the BroMenn emergency department.

He was talking so doctors first speculated he had only a concussion, Caryl Hoobler recalled. But a CT (computed tomography) scan revealed that he had a severe head injury.

His skull was cracked and he had a head bleed. Specifically, he had a right temporal epidural hematoma, a blood clot on the surface of the covering of the brain, caused by a tear to a blood vessel called the middle meningeal artery, Reeder and Stroink said. The artery was releasing blood between the skull and the covering of the brain called the dura.

“It (the bleed) was pushing the brain to the side,” Stroink said. “This is a neurosurgical emergency.”

Hoobler’s condition was life threatening. Stroink didn’t know how long Hoobler had but knew they had to move quickly.

“We knew that we needed to get to that hemorrhage within the hour,” Stroink said.

Immediately, doctors’ diagnosis became apparent. Hoobler’s talking suddenly made no sense and he vomited on Reeder.

“It was amazing how Dr. Stroink’s medical team flew in every which direction” to get him into surgery, Caryl Hoobler said. “I was terrified. I knew that bleeding on the brain wasn’t good. I was trying hard not to lose it.”

Stroink, with the assistance of Reeder and Dr. William Beringer, took out a window of Hoobler’s skull at the fracture and cleaned up the blood. When they found the tear in the artery, they clamped it, sealed the tear with electrically charged forceps, and took off the clamp.

Then they reattached the window of skull to the rest of the skull using titanium “snowflake plates” about the size of nickels.

The next day, Tuesday, doctors discovered that Reeder still had some blood leakage so they did a second surgery and removed a second clot that had formed.

“That (second clot) wasn’t life-threatening but we knew that his recovery would be quicker” if the clot was removed, Stroink said.

Hoobler began talking again almost immediately after coming out of the surgery and began walking with nurses’ assistance on Wednesday. The first thing he remembers is walking down the BroMenn hallway with his father on Thursday, the same day he returned home.

Gradually, Hoobler recovered, with the help of occupational therapy.

“I’m doing good,” he said. He gets headaches and has ringing in both ears from time to time but Stroink said that’s common after brain surgery and should end within a few months. He’s off all prescription medicine and takes only Advil as needed for pain.

“He’s been amazing through all this,” Caryl said. “I’m sure the cycling helped him stay healthy through all this.”

Hoobler has resumed daily walks and looks forward to returning to work soon. Stroink said Hoobler has nearly completed his recovery.

“He’s very fortunate,” Stroink said.

In the spring, he’ll resume bike riding. Stroink and Reeder said he should be fine.

“I want to get back on (the bike),” Hoobler said. “This time, I’ll have a helmet.”



Bike helmet safety facts



  • More children go to hospital emergency departments for bicycle-related crashes than for any other sport.


  • Head injuries are the most serious type of bike injury and the most common cause of death for bicyclists.


  • In 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available, 725 bicyclists were killed and another 41,000 were injured in traffic crashes nationwide.


  • In Illinois in 2004, 25 bicyclists were killed in traffic crashes.


  • At Bloomington-Normal’s two hospital emergency departments between July 1, 2005, and June 30, 2006, 274 bicyclists and 79 motorcyclists were treated for injuries. Between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007, 247 bicyclists and 82 motorcyclists were treated for injuries.


  • Bike helmets have been proven to reduce the risk of head and brain injury when a crash occurs by 85 percent to 88 percent. But only 20 percent to 25 percent of bicyclists wear bike helmets.


  • More information — including a copy of the publication “Easy Steps for Fitting a Bicycle Helmet” — can be found at www.nhtsa.dot.gov.


    • SOURCES: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Illinois Secretary of State’s Office, Dr. Tommy Reeder



    Count for yourself; majority

    of bicyclists not wearing helmets



    By Paul Swiech

    pswiech@pantagraph.com

    BLOOMINGTON — An unscientific survey by Dr. Tommy Reeder and by Dr. Ann Stroink’s daughter confirmed what the two neurosurgeons feared: the majority of bicyclists do not wear helmets.

    Reeder spent an hour on Constitution Trail off of G.E. Road on Aug. 12 and another hour on the trail at Vernon Avenue on Aug. 13 and counted 21 helmeted bike riders and 73 non-helmeted bike riders.

    He also spent an hour on Veterans Parkway and counted 10 helmeted motorcyclists and 32 non-helmeted motorcyclists.

    Stroink’s daughter, Kirsten Skillrud, 19, spent an hour on the trail at Camelback Bridge on Aug. 11 and another hour near Colene Hoose Elementary School on Aug. 13. Her totals were 19 helmeted bicyclists and 35 non-helmeted bicyclists.

    Reeder guessed that some men don’t wear a helmet because they think they can stop themselves if they begin to fall.

    “But it has nothing to do with strength,” Reeder said. “It’s mass and velocity.”

    If you’re cycling at 20 mph and you hit something, you’re not going to be able to keep yourself upright no matter how strong you are, he said.

    Skillrud admitted she didn’t always wear a bike helmet, even though her mother always wears one. Because Skillrud often bicycles early in the morning, she didn’t always think about putting a helmet on before heading off on the trail.

    Taking the survey, she noticed that fewer teenagers were wearing helmets than adults.

    Hearing Craig Hoobler’s story and taking the survey have changed her mind. She said she will always put on a helmet now before getting on her bike.

    “My mom is a wonderful surgeon but I don’t want to have brain surgery,” said the Bloomington High School graduate, who is beginning her sophomore year at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.

    “I need to be a bigger person and wear the helmet and I should be an active voice (for helmet use) when I’m riding with my peers.”

    Take a look
    Craig Hoobler walks around his bike in the driveway of his Bloomington home. Hoobler, 42, survived a severe head injury in a freak bike accident on Constitution Trail on June 25. (Pantagraph/B MOSHER)
    Above: Hoobler shows the horseshoe-shaped scar above his right ear — a reminder of the brain surgery that saved his life. Below: This picture — taken by Hoobler’s wife, Caryl, four days after his emergency surgery — shows the horseshoe-shaped incision where his skull was opened to stop his head bleed. An incision at the top of his head was made to drain the blood.
    Craig Hoobler said he has learned his lesson and will begin wearing a bike helmet when he resumes bike riding in the spring. (Pantagraph/B MOSHER)
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    Reader comments on this story - 9 total

    Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

    citizen wrote on Sep 2, 2007 10:15 AM:

    " I have broken two helmets in moutain bike crashes, one about 10 years ago that would probably ended very badly for me if I had not been wearing the helmet (I was alone and in very remote location and the helmet broke in two). I still went to the hospital, but because of the helmet, I took myself there. The other one was about 2 months ago at Comlara. NOt nearly as dramatic, but the helmet broke and absorbed the impact that would have done damage to my noodle. Helmets work!! "

    JTE wrote on Aug 31, 2007 2:38 PM:

    " It's also critical to wear the skid plate correctly. It won't do you any good if you don't have it strapped on, or if you wear it up above your forehead at a jaunty angle. When your head smacks down on the pavement, the helmet will go bouncing off and you skull will take the blow. Your brain will bounce around inside your cranium and you will bruise the brain. "

    Responsibility wrote on Aug 30, 2007 2:14 PM:

    " If you are an adult riding without a helmet, you set an example for all who see you. How would you explain your actions to the parents of an injured child who was following your example? "

    THANK YOU wrote on Aug 30, 2007 10:32 AM:

    " ...Paul for a great article! Head Sled awareness is very important for cyclists of all ages. I have gone through my share of helmets over the years, and I thank each and every one of them for keeping me safe. But ya gotta put them on, people! "

    JTE wrote on Aug 28, 2007 10:05 AM:

    " They're called "brain buckets" for a good reason. Not wearing one is admitting that your brain isn't valuable enough to buy and PROPERLY WEAR a helmet. My son put his bike down when he was around 12 years old, and the helmet had a divot in it from a steel plate on the Constitution Trail. I put my bike down (idiot pedestrian on the trail who moved left when I announced "Passing on your left"). I broke my arm in two places and my helmet was in five peices. My doctor says the helmet made the difference between broken arms and permanent nerve damage. "

    Kathy Hoffmann wrote on Aug 28, 2007 8:45 AM:

    " Please have Mr. Hoobler contact me when he is ready to ride again. Kathy Hoffmann Account Mgr/SafeKids Liaison Bell Sports, Inc. Rantoul, IL 61866 800-494-4543 x7260 "

    MC wrote on Aug 27, 2007 8:49 PM:

    " I have ridden for many years and I eventually fell and hit my head. I had my helmet on and rode home with no injuries. I have seen my friends take their inevitalbe falls too. In many of those cases the helmets prevented all kinds of injurys because they hit the pavement first and absorbed the blows that otherwise would have been delivered to their faces, noses, cheeks, teeth and brains. Those helmets allowed everyone to come home safely instead of forcing one of us to get out the cell phone and call 911. "

    Life is Good wrote on Aug 27, 2007 5:00 PM:

    " What a great story and it is wonderful that Craig is doing well after such an ordeal. I think it bears mentioning who the real hero was in this story, and I am surprised her name wwasn't mentioned at all. It was Maureen Radbourne, the Good Sumaritan rollerblader, who stopped and took action by wrapping his head and getting him to the hospital in quick time, or he may have died right there on the trail. No doctors would have even come into play if not for her quick thinking. She is a neighbor who rollerblades the trail daily and has helped quite a few people and pets on the trail over the years. I hope the Pantagraph makes it right by printing something about Ms. Radbourne, she is the true hero. "

    Ex Mailroom Emp wrote on Aug 27, 2007 3:08 PM:

    " Craig is a good man. Sorry this had to happen to him. Could not be a nicer guy..Recover buddy "
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