Erick Oosthuizen

On 14 May, Erick Oosthuizen got on his bike and rode 20km. That doesn’t sound like much – but for Oosthuizen, it was the whole world. A year earlier, this accomplished cyclist and tandem-racing ninja was in hospital with a tube down his throat, and bits of metal sticking out of various parts of his body. He was on a ventilator because he couldn’t breathe on his own. The previous day he’d been on his motorbike, making his way to his office. The traffic light was green when he crossed the intersection… and then he woke up on the side of the road. With 14 fractures: he’d been hit by a car. When the 42-year-old father of three left hospital 89 days later, he left without part of his right leg, and with the terrible thought that he might never ride a bicycle again. Jonathan Ancer met him at a coffee shop two blocks away from the scene of the crash.

- Jonathan Ancer

So, what happened? 

Beats me. I have no memory of the crash. I just know that after I was hit I smashed into the box that controls the intersection, and woke up on the pavement.

There was a doctor’s practice on the corner, and – amazingly – an ill paramedic had just gone in to see the doctor. The doctor and the paramedic rushed out to help me. I remember complaining about my pinkie, which was dislocated, and my left leg, which was broken.

And your right leg? 

I hadn’t noticed my right leg – must have been because I had nine broken ribs, and had taken a proper shot to the head! My right leg was pointing in a completely different direction. Medics arrived and gave me something to knock me out. But despite being heavily sedated, I woke up when they tried to straighten the leg.

You then woke up in ICU on a ventilator, your right arm paralysed. Was there anything that didn’t hurt? 

Yes, my left arm. My spine was okay – and for that, I’m eternally grateful. But my whole world had crumbled. At first the doctors tried to save my foot, but infection set in, and it was rotting. I was in danger, and the surgeon said, “We need to get this foot off right now.”

First they amputated the foot, and then they amputated a bit higher for ‘functional length’, so I could have maximum function with a prosthetic limb. I’ve lost everything from just under my calf. I remember saying to Elrine (Erick’s wife), “We will never ride together again...”

How did she respond? 

She said, “Oh yes we will. We will cycle again.” She was so strong… I can’t talk about it without getting emotional. She kept it all together, our three kids as well as my support system. She never cracked.