The Bicycle Test

‘What I share with traumatic brain injury survivors is that I was once like them, emerging from a coma, tied to a bed, locked in my body, and fighting for survival. And I achieved it. If I could do it, then so can they.’ Monday 26 April 2010 was a beautiful, mild day, perfect for a long and enjoyable cycle. Damian Wąsowicz set off on a bike ride through idyllic Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve with his two brothers. A few kilometres in, as they climbed a hill, a speeding service vehicle suddenly came around the bend and smashed into Damian.

When he awoke from a coma two weeks later, he found himself locked into a broken body, unable to communicate with the outside world. His nose, jaw, cheeks, and eye sockets were broken. All four lobes of his skull were fractured, leading to severe brain injury. He had compressed spinal discs, fractured vertebrae and ribs, a lung contusion, and a torn kidney. His hands, eyes, knees, and shoulder were damaged. The doctors gave him a less-than 5% chance of survival: if he made it, he’d either be in a vegetative state, or he’d be confined to a wheelchair and have severe brain damage.

The Bicycle Test is an incredible memoir of courage and determination in which Damian shares what it took to overcome the odds in order to live a life as near to normal as possible and to achieve his ultimate dream: to pass the bicycle test and ride again.