“I can’t imagine what my life would be like without bicycling,” Taylor said.

Marsha L. Taylor, 2012 Lincoln Boulevard, was released two days ago after being injured in a bicycling accident. Shortly after she finished the U.S. Tour she was riding down 72nd Street, almost to Southland Boulevard, when a car hit her from behind sending her flying off of her bike. “That’s all I can remember until I was in the hospital,” Taylor said. She suffered a mild concussion, a broken neck, six broken ribs, a broken arm and a broken pelvis. One of the doctors said it was a miracle she wasn’t paralyzed because she had what they called a hangman’s fracture.

After a couple of weeks the doctors sent Taylor to a rehabilitation facility where they discovered she had internal injuries as well. Her intestines were perforated and her liver and gall bladder were injured which caused her skin to turn bright orange. “When my mother saw me she said I looked like a Halloween pumpkin,” Taylor said. These complications put her back into the hospital for four months.

Even though she suffered many injuries, Taylor still wants to ride her bicycle. “If I could, I’d be out there right now, but it’s hard to ride a bike when you have to use crutches,” Taylor said. The main precaution is to wear protective clothing, especially a helmet when bicycling. “It probably saved my life this time,” Taylor said.

Taylor still has to go three times a week for rehabilitation.