A WILD RIDE - FORMER AIRMAN RECOVERS FROM MOTORCYCLE MISHAP TO COMPETE IN WOUNDED WARRIOR GAMES

  • Published
  • By Tim Barela
  • Torch Magazine
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. --  For the past two Warrior Games, 31-year-old Matthew Bilancia has run in both the 100-meter and 1,600-meter track events only to come away empty handed. But the fact that he was running at all? Well that was nothing short of a miracle.

The Warrior Games are held annually for wounded military members to compete in sporting events at the U.S. Olympics Training Center, Air Force Academy and Peterson Air Force Base, all in Colorado Springs, Colo. The 2011 event was held May 16-21. But Bilancia's journey to these games started July 21, 2002, on the outskirts of Tucson, Ariz., when a 1988 Ford Thunderbird going 80 mph smashed into the back of his motorcycle.

"I was traveling on a two-lane road at night going about 38 in a 40 mph zone when the 'tank on wheels' hit us," said Bilancia, who was a 22-year-old senior airman at the time stationed at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., where he worked on C-130 engines and propellers.

Bilancia carried a female passenger on the back of his 2001 Yamaha R1. They were traveling with another motorcycle rider -- a fellow Airman from his squadron -- who was slightly behind them.

"We were riding in a staggered pattern -- I was staying close to the double yellows a few bike lengths in front of the other motorcyclist, and he was riding the solid white," Bilancia said. "The idea is to keep a safe distance between the motorcycles, but also to work as a unit to be seen better by motorists traveling in either direction. ... Should work in theory, but somehow the guy in the Thunderbird missed seeing either taillight."

The Thunderbird driver clipped the other rider first with the edge of his vehicle's right quarter panel, severing the Airman's left leg below the knee. A split second later he slammed into Bilancia and his passenger, launching them both like human cannonballs.

"I was thrown 127 yards from the point of impact," Bilancia said. "My motorcycle continued down the road another 300 yards. My rear passenger broke her pelvis, and 35 percent of her body had road rash."

Bilancia shattered his right knee and broke the tibia and fibula in that same leg. Both of his shoulders were dislocated, and his left clavicle was fractured. He also suffered some small fractures in his hip and pelvis, a lower spinal cord injury and a head injury that caused swelling to his brain.

"We were all wearing helmets and other protective gear," the Pequannock, N.J., native said. "Heck, I even had on full race gear, which prevented me from getting any road rash. But when you're hit at that speed, some damage is going to be done. Still, I believe my safety gear saved my life."

Bilancia doesn't actually recall being struck by the vehicle.

"The first thing I remember is the driver of the Thunderbird standing over me asking if I was OK," he said. "I thought I was just waking from a dream. But he told me I'd just been hit by a car."

Bilancia tried to move, but intense pain surged through his broken body. Helplessly, he wondered how his friends were doing.

"I knew my female passenger was hurting because she was screaming as if someone was murdering her," he said. "My other friend was silent because he was unconscious and bleeding out."

The only one with a cell phone, Bilancia called 911. Nearly 45 minutes later emergency services arrived.

"The medics assessed the scene and helped the other Airman first because he was going to bleed to death from his severed limb," he said. "Then another crew arrived, and they tended to the girl because she was still screaming so badly. I was pretty much calm, cool and collected and even cracking jokes, so they got to me last."

But looks can be deceiving. When the medics began working on Bilancia, his heart stopped. They revived him, and immediately airlifted him out. In the helicopter, his heart stopped again, and he had to be revived a second time.

They flew him to University Medical Center in Tucson, where he spent the next five days in intensive care and another 12 days in the rehabilitation center.

"My right leg was so messed up that they talked about amputating it," Bilancia said. "I basically just begged and pleaded with them to save my leg."

Doctors did save his limb. However, in the years since the accident, Bilancia has endured 23 surgeries as a medical team put him back together again. His injuries were too grave to continue military service, so he was medically separated from the Air Force May 12, 2004.

Bilancia resides in Fairfax, Va., where he continues his rehabilitation and his ambition to help other wounded warriors.

"The Warrior Games have become a huge part of my recovery and rehabilitation," he said. "I'm not a big fan of running because of how much pain it causes me. But in the games you push yourself further -- past what you thought your limitations were. It's very empowering."