My love, your friend or family member, Rick Perner, sustained horrific injuries in a cycling race on May 12, 2015. From what we know, a bunch of cyclists crashed in front of him and he went down instantly on his left side at approx 23mph. He sustained a fractured vertebrae, seven fractured ribs, his left collar-bone was broken in two places (ultimately requiring a titanium plate and pins), he got a hematoma on his head(no concussion) and road rash down the side of his body. he also collapsed his lung which necessitated a 4 day hospital including 3 days in ICU.  the doctors inserted a tube into his chest connected to a pump which withdrew bllod and fkuid from his chest cavity. He was only released once the assessment was made that the lung had returned to normal.

In the crash he did all he could to protect himself., He had on proper gear, his helmet was secured and he was well trained/conditioned. Even though it is tough for a self-employed person, he has also been paying a high premium for health insurance out of his pocket. He thought he was secure. Unfortunately, because inusurers  in the USA are motivated by greed and not the altruism they emphasize in their ads , his 4 day hospital stay coverage claim was denied. We are working on appealing it but it doesn't stop Rick's health care providers from demanding $.

It is not easy for me to ask for help and God knows, I have too much pride. However, I will do anything for this man in his time of need. So, I am asking, on his behalf, for any minor donation you can spare to help him leverage this financial nightmare. The total owed is not clear yet, so if his insurance co. denies it, the total bill may be around 20k. We will keep this page updated as  details  develop. And  hopefully, the tally will be a heck of a lot less.

Regarding Rick's current status: He has good and bad days and is still in the midst of the recovery process. Aside from the physical injuries, at night he has trouble sleeping. He has also been given a tentative diagnosis of PTSD by his physcian and his therapist, (who he has only been seeing because of the crash). The crash factors in less than what folllowed. They both attribute the PTSD more to an extended ICU stay at Kings County Hospital, where he didn't sleep for about 60 hours straight. And he  also had a horrible reaction to the morphine they gave him (percocet and codeine had the same effect), which put him in a state of intense delerium during which he rolled over onto his shoulder displacing his clavicle, nearly resulting in a open fracture. This necessitated surgery i.e. the  placing of a titanium plate and pins in his shoulder to repair the collarbone.  He stopped taking narcotic pain meds after the adverse reaction he had to the morphine et al and stuck with Tylenol.

So now, as a self employed dog walker, he is only limited to walking smaller dogs and or larger dogs that are relaxed types and don't pull. The clincher is his rounds  covered a wide area  and he used his bike to get around from appointment to appointment.  Now, he isn't able to cover  the  long instances between appointments on foot quickly enough so his weekly income has dropped significantly. 

I thank you from the depths of my soul for taking the time to read this and if you can't help out, that's OK too. In any case, it would be great if you could share this page along with  some love, support, words of encouragement on Rick's FB page.

With love,

Karne (Karen) Vera, and the dogs, "Chauncey" and "Tuba".


This is a view of the side of his ribs, check out the pigtail drain- removing fluid and blood from his lungs.