As some of you already know I had a freak accident on lower Big Sandy Creek on the afternoon of May 1. Brent Austin, Brent’s friend Scott, Charlie Walbridge and I were enjoying a magnificent day on the river, the level was a sweet 6.15 feet, the river was running green and clear, the weather was warm and sunny, a perfect spring day on a great river in northern West Virginia.We were all boating well and enjoying the day until we got down to First Island rapid.

Unfortunately that is where the fun stopped at about 4:15 p.m. After navigating the first and second part of the drop cleanly, I went over the bottom drop on line and my kayak was pushed left toward the rock on the bottom left. The rock was pillowed at this level and I thought I would ride off the pillow and around the rock. Instead I was quickly and violently flipped over the top of the rock and struck my chin hard, just left of the center line of my jaw, on the down river side of the rock. Instantly I knew something was very, very wrong.

Fortunately I remained conscious throughout the entire episode although quite dazed. After missing an attempted roll I exited my kayak and quickly got to the shore. My buddies gathered my gear and we began to assess the situation. I was sure at the time that I had knocked out some teeth or at least cracked them up pretty good. As it turns out this was not the case. The teeth were still solidly in the jawbone, but the bone was displaced. The blow had cleaved my jaw cleanly in two and pushed the left side of my jaw back into my mouth, tearing the tissue on the inside of my mouth. To say the situation was bloody is an understatement.Interestingly, however, there was no external laceration. In addition to the clear break in the front of my jaw was a less serious, non-displaced fracture on the left rear of my jaw.

Charlie has some rolls of gauze in his first aid kit that I stuffed in my mouth to stem the bleeding. As we debated our options it became quite clear to me that the quickest way to the hospital was to get back in my kayak and paddle the remaining two miles or so to the confluence with the Cheat and our vehicle. So we got was back in our kayaks and headed for the takeout. I managed pretty well but did swim once before the takeout. I am sure in hindsight this was the best decision and probably saved several hours getting to the hospital.

Once got to the car we made our way to Charlie’s house and then Charlie drove me to Ruby Hospital at WVU in Morgantown. Charlie, Brent and Scott were all you could ever ask for in a river buddy and did their best to help me both on the river and afterwards, getting me to the hospital, breaking down my campsite at the Cheat Festival, shuttling my car around, picking Nanci up at the airport, etc. I want to thank each of them for all their help. Charlie and I arrived at the WVU hospital about 7:30 or so and I was  how quickly I was processed into the ER, given treatment and diagnosed. By about 9:30 I had been x-rayed, cat scanned and seen by several doctors.

However, at that point things almost took a bizarre turn. They wanted to give me a prescription for pain, discharge me and let me go home and see my own doctor, telling me that I had up to ten days to have the surgery. I was dumbfounded and couldn’t imagine spending another 48 - 72 hours with the left side of my jaw shoved back into my mouth. Besides I was 700 miles from home and by myself. This fact seemed to change the equation and finally I was admitted to the hospital and put on the surgical “add on ”list (i.e. standby list). They told me not to expect surgery beforelate Friday afternoon or even Saturday.

Now that I knew what the situation was it was time to call Nanci, my wife. That call went like you might expect. She wanted to know everything and I didn’t want to talk any more than absolutely necessary because of the pain. We successfully communicated and she made plans to fly to Morgantown on Friday to help get me back to Atlanta. I was greeted early Friday morning around 6:30 a.m. by Dr. Michael Hurst and learned to my surprise that they were ready to fix me up right then. I was whisked off to the OR where they installed a titanium plate and wired my jaw shut.

Surgery went great and I was back in my room by about 10:30. I had to spend the night in the hospital Friday night and was discharged early Saturday morning. Nanci drove me back to Atlanta, arriving Saturday evening. Thank goodness for pain meds.

Interestingly enough, Charlie and I had sat at Big Splat and debated the merits of helmets with face protection just 45 minutes prior to the accident. As we watched some hot shot young paddlers run Big Splat (while we portaged), Charlie exclaimed that he would never kayak a river where he needed a face mask like they were wearing. I told Charlie I thought they were a good idea and was considering getting one. Had I had a face mask I probably wouldn’t be writing this email right now and would be eating a really nice dinner tonight for my birthday instead of sucking something unappealing through a straw.  I think I want a new helmet for my birthday!

I want to thank Brent, Charlie, Sandy (Charlie’s wife) and Scott again for all their help. I want to especially thank Nanci for coming up there and getting me and putting up with my whitewater addiction. A broken jaw can make one somewhat grumpy and she is an angel. I visited a doctor here in Atlanta for a post operative evaluation and follow-up. He says things look great and I can expect my jaw to be unwired in about 4 weeks. While the discomfort remains, the pain is pretty much gone.As I write this, it is just about one hour short of one week since the accident. I have already lost 9 lbs. It is harder than you think to get 2000 calories a day through a straw!

Editor’s Note: Don’s jaw was unwired May 30 and he is well on the way to recovery and is back at work. He ended up losing nearly 25 pounds on his involuntary liquid diet. Fortunately, not being able to talk didn’t keep him from being elected President of American Whitewater on May 17. Don is a experienced whitewater kayaker who was one of the boaters on the “expert boater panel” who paddled the upper Chattooga as part of the Forest Service’s User Capacity Analysis. If this can happen to Don, it can happen to any of us who paddle whitewater. Consider getting yourself a helmet with a facemask for your next birthday.

by Don Kinser JULY 2008

President, American Whitewater

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