Paul Ritter needs our help!

As many of you know, Paul Ritter (along with friend/fellow Cook Neilson of Cycle Magazine fame), firmly launched Ducati’s big-bore performance image around the globe, with their respective wins in AMA Superbike competition. Sadly, from this heady high, in 1998, Paul’s life changed forever in a vintage motorcycle racing accident at Steamboat Springs, Colorado. His injuries were life-threatening - a broken back, and torn aorta among them. Thankfully, doctors were able to repair his torn aorta, saving his life, but not the damage to his spinal cord, an injury that changed things forever. Paul’s recovery was arduous, spending four months at the renowned Craig Hospital in Denver, CO, learning to live life from a wheelchair. With the un-ebbing support of his wife Dee, they adapted well, and lived as full a life as one can within the confines of paraplegia.

Unfortunately, the last few years have been extremely difficult. In recent years, Paul lost both legs due to long-term injury complications, and damaging neurologic issues from a neck operation have required more and greater care needs, which two years ago exhausted his long-term care insurance benefits. Trying to keep the ball rolling, Paul and Dee have gone through their life savings, and are sitting on roughly $30,000 (and growing) medical debt. They struggle every day to make these payments and in addition, find a way to fund mounting (and necessary) home repairs from last summer.

Adding insult to this immense hardship, in March of 2024, Paul awoke with a “pop” in his neck, which grew over time from numbness in his hands to full on quadriplegia, with no use of his arms and hands. It was a soul-wrenching spring for them, with doctors in their local Albany/Corvallis area, despite Dee's valiant efforts, unable to immediately help, or for months, even schedule him for surgery. Finally, a surgery date was scheduled for August 15, but surgery was canceled in the pre-op room. The surgeons explained that Paul’s condition had deteriorated to the point that there was only a 5% chance of improvement, with a 50-50 chance of permanent quadriplegia, ventilator dependence, or death. So THEY refused to proceed. We are now trying to get into OHSU in Portland. Never give up!!

Any help for Paul will be so much appreciated! He is willing to take a huge risk to recapture part of his life. He has had an incredible run we can all look up to, so let’s show him we are behind him all the way and support them with what you can.