Reid is one of those rare human beings who can find the silver lining in anything. Anything.
On August 25, 2014, Reid was the victim of an accident that put him in a coma for two weeks, resulted in the loss of one of his legs, and has left him with nerve damage and pain that haunts him every hour of every day. But what does he say?
“I am so blessed by the Lord. I have a beautiful wife, a wonderful home and a fantastic business. If God parted the skies and said to me, ‘Go ahead and complain,’ I’d say, ‘I’m not complaining about anything. You’ve done right by me, brother!’”
That’s a pretty inspiring outlook for someone who was riding his Harley-Davidson legally on the way to work one day and, due to another driver’s negligence, has seen his entire life flipped upside-down.
It was 8:30 in the morning and Reid was riding 20 miles-per-hour through a school zone at 38th and Vivian in Wheat Ridge, when he saw an oncoming truck turning left across his lane.
“I saw him and I knew he would take a left to go onto Vivian,” recalls Reid. “I veered to my left to swerve around him but he got into my lane and stopped! If I had veered six more inches, I’d have missed him, but he stopped!”
The impact, even with both drivers going 20 mph or less, launched Reid off of his motorcycle and threw him 60 feet. But not before destroying his leg. In the moment of impact, Reid’s leg got caught between the truck’s rear bumper and quarter-panel.
“It ripped my whole kneecap off like opening a bottle of pop,” he says.
It also ripped all of his leg’s muscles and tendons, essentially splitting his shin in half. Then, when he hit the ground, his head split open.
Reid was in a coma and on life support for two week. Doctors told his wife that he might never emerge from it and, if he did, he’d have the mentality of a 3-year-old due to brain injury. Just days later, Reid opened his eyes and sat up with his full mental capacity. His doctors called him a miracle.
After a frustrating meeting with another attorney, Reid found Scott O’Sullivan through Laurie at BikerDown. Scott immediately drove to the hospital to meet with Reid.
“Scott worked for me and worked for me,” recalls Reid. “He is magnificent. The dude is unbelievable. He works hard and he still does things to help me.”
Scott discovered that the 80-year-old man who hit Reid had $1.5 million in umbrella coverage. Scott immediately set about getting it. By December, just four months later, he handed a check to Reid. But Scott didn’t stop helping Reid at that time.
He adds, “Scott is the elite attorney of the attorneys. The only thing he cared about was helping me. He worked 24 hours a day for me. Scott is the best of the best!”
Yet, Reid is facing a lifetime of issues and pain due to the accident. He’s now very susceptible to pneumonia and he’s been hospitalized on life support three times with the illness. He is also in severe pain every second of the day. And of course, his motorcycle riding days are much changed. He needs help getting on and off his bike, which frustrates him and has impacted how he feels about riding.
Yet, this is a man who chooses to look at the good in his life.
“I’m so blessed that I couldn’t complain.”
