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Inspiring Intersection
As Reported in the CARROLL COUNTY TIMES
Three coaches brought together by life-threatening accident use ordeal to motivate cross country teams
By Patrick Stoetzer , Times Staff Writer |
Friday, October 14, 2005 |
ELDERSBURG - Bobby Ward uses his story as a motivational tool, even if the words and details bring up a horrible time in his life. A split-second happening that nearly killed him. Ward, 26, is enjoying his third year as a boys cross country coach at Liberty High. He's helped the Lions win back-to-back Class 2A state championships. And he's comfortable enough to talk about what happened on March 7, 2002, at the intersection of Md. 26 and Ridge Road in Eldersburg. |
 DYLAN SLAGLE/STAFF PHOTO Liberty High School cross country coaches Dan Jones, left, and Bobby Ward get ready for a meet Wednesday at Liberty |
Ward, a 1998 Liberty graduate, was home from Widener University on spring break. A member of the track and field team, he was out for a training run, around 4 p.m. As he tried to cross Md. 26, a pickup truck traveling at about 50 mph struck Ward and sent him sprawling into the grass by the Crown gas station.
Maybe the driver ran a red light. Maybe the light was yellow. It's a little unclear, but Ward was lying in the grass, bloody and bruised, with a fractured right leg so grotesque his ankle ended up near his ear.
"I flew a pretty good long ways," Ward recalls. "My head bounced off the curb. I remember seeing my leg and saying, 'Well, I guess I'm not going to finish this run.' "
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Dan Jones and Ken Fischer rode together on ambulance runs all the time as paramedics with Sykesville-Freedom District fire company.
They knew each other from Liberty - Fischer, a 1996 grad, ran cross country for Jones, coach of the Lions since 1990 - but their time as partners had grown smaller. Fischer volunteered his services; Jones was full-time.
Fischer stopped by the firehouse on March 7, however, just about the time the call came in for a "1050 PI serious" - pedestrian injured. Jones drove the ambulance. Fischer was the main paramedic.
Fischer remembers more people than usual at the accident scene and a young guy lying in the grass with an obvious broken leg.
Jones and Fischer went into paramedic mode, with Jones working from the waist down and Fischer tending to the torso and head.
Fischer went through the usual questions with the injured but conscious person.
Do you know where you are? Do you know what just happened? Do you know your name?
"He said, 'Ken, I'm Bob.' I was like, 'Bob who?' because he didn't look like Bob," Fischer says. "He said, 'Yeah, Ken, from cross country. Bob Ward.'
"I remember saying, 'Dan, this is Bobby.' Dan's doing the feet, and he goes, 'Bob Ward? Oh, my god.' "
Jones and Fischer worked on Ward until the helicopter arrived to airlift Ward to shock trauma. As paramedics, Jones and Fischer have been through these situations before. But seeing a friend and former runner dying in the grass was tough to digest.
"It was kind of like, 'Holy crap, can we do this?' " Jones says. "He had both lungs collapsed; that was the part that scared us the most. Time just seemed like it creeped ."
Jones says a paramedic is trained to finish his duties in less than 30 minutes to increase the chances of survival. Although it felt like hours, Jones and Fischer had Ward in the helicopter in less than 11. But it wasn't over yet.
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Ward's list of injuries included the broken leg, collapsed lungs and a pair of broken ribs to go with the lacerations from impact. He went from the best shape of his life to fighting for his life.
Fischer gave Ward a 50-50 chance of making it. Jones was a little more optimistic, but understood the severity of Ward's injuries.
Ward remembers doctors talking about his lengthy rehabilitation process. His goal was to run in the Middle Atlantic Conference championship meet.
"They told me a Marine would take six months," Ward said. "They said, 'You remind me of a Marine.' "
Ward ran on a treadmill. He staggered through therapy. His will to run at that May meet kept him going.
"Bobby is just one of those guys you just can not say no to," Fischer says. "He's one of the most stubborn people I've ever known."
Ward wanted to inspire his Widener teammates by running the 800 in the conference meet. Two days before the meet he ran on the track (400 meters) for the first time since March.
Then, he finished the 800 at the MAC meet in 3 minutes, 5 seconds. That was more than a minute slower than he would've run it in good health, but quite an accomplishment considering he was running with a rod in his right leg, some two months after the accident.
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Ward joined Jones as co-coaches for the 2002 season. He says he uses his ordeal in inspirational speeches he gives his athletes.
Ward says he might not have gotten into coaching had he not been involved in the accident. Thanks to Jones and Fischer, a pair of buddies from Liberty, Ward got the chance.
"They're two of the best paramedics around here, they saved my life," he says. "I was lucky, but at the same time I think it was meant to be that we all were involved."
Fischer agrees.
"I tell this story to my cross country team, three or four times a year," says Fischer, who coaches at Winters Mill. "Whenever anyone complains or says they don't feel like they can do it, I say, 'Look at that guy over there who coaches for Liberty. I took him to the hospital. We thought he was going to die, and his leg was completely broken. He's running.'
"There's nobody I know who has more determination than Bobby."
Reach staff writer Patrick Stoetzer at 410-857-7894 or pstoetzer@lcniofmd.com .
"To give anything less then your best is to sacrifice the gift." ~Steve Prefontaine