Dayton Man Finishes the Ride

DAYTON – On the morning of Wed., June 25, Dayton resident and volunteer fireman Mike Ellsworth set out on a fairly routine 24-mile bicycle ride from Dayton to just west of Waitsburg.

On the return trip, Ellsworth was clipped by a vehicle, also heading east, knocked off his bike, and slammed into the borrow ditch in front of Bill and Joanne Poolman's home on Highway 12.

"The last thing I remember is those two pink flamingoes on their porch," he said.

In the meantime, Ellsworth's wife Kathy heard about a bike accident and an unconscious biker on Ellsworth's fire scanner at home.

"I knew that was him," she said.

She rushed to the scene of the accident where emergency personnel were working to stabilize her husband.

Ellsworth was then transported to Dayton General Hospital and the medical personnel who were waiting for him.

The list of injuries Ellsworth sustained in the accident were numerous and included a broken pelvis, a broken scapula, a sacral fracture, a liver laceration, cardiac contusion, several broken ribs and subarachnoid hemorrhage with mild traumatic brain injury.

Ellsworth was airlifted by helicopter to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane for treatment of his injuries. He was then discharged to St. Luke's Hospital in Spokane, for rehabilitation.

But that was interrupted when Ellsworth was found to have gallbladder disease, necessitating surgery at Sacred Heart Hospital.

Three days after the surgery Ellsworth returned to St. Luke's Hospital to finish his rehabilitation. And in the middle of July he came home.

At home, Ellsworth underwent physical therapy, provided by St. Mary's Hospital in Walla Walla.

Ellsworth then received out-patient physical therapy three days a week at Dayton General Hospital. He is currently receiving physical therapy in Dayton two days a week.

"I had good care from triage to physical therapy at Dayton General Hospital," Ellsworth said.

Ellsworth had been looking forward to attending his 50th high school reunion in Michigan on July 25, and his daughter, Shauna, made refundable airline reservations as an incentive for him to get well.

But when it became apparent to him that he wasn't well enough to go to Michigan Ellsworth began to think about making a new goal.

"I wanted to get back and ride. You need to finish what you started," he thought.

Ellsworth decided to finish the ride on the fourth month anniversary of the accident.

With that in mind Ellsworth began to ride his bike again, shying away from Hwy. 12, and sticking to other less-travelled roads.

Finally, on Sunday, October 25, Ellsworth pedaled away from the Poolmans' driveway on Hwy. 12 and completed the last four miles of his original twenty-four mile bike ride.