Allen Wayne Welch

Quicklimegirl · 09-13-2006, 12:26 PM

Two years ago, Monday……….

September 11, 2004 was one of the saddest days of my life.

On September 3, 2004, while riding on Washington’s SR14, a two-lane highway, my
Ex-husband encountered a car in his lane making an illegal pass. He was riding on one of the more corpulent two-wheelers made, a ’99 HD Fat Boy, which is a far cry from the Desert bikes he used to race near Mattawa as a teenager. He felt he had no choice but to leave the roadway…either that or be hit head on at about 60mph. But a Fat Boy is no Bultaco Pursang, and worse yet, the flimsy little “Tupperware” Pseudo “Helmet” he was wearing was far removed from, say, the full-face Arai I won’t leave home, or even my block, on my head. That’s one thing I’ll never understand…the penchant for many Cruiser riders to feel like they need to wear a inadequate helmet as a fashion statement that “goes” with their type of choice of bike. Yeah, that Chrome-colored “thing” went nice with the Fat Boy.

Although we had parted ways nine years before, this was someone I had once loved deeply, and I guess no matter what there always is a part of you that will continue to love them. I was still good friends with his siblings, and his sister mentioned that Friday night, the 3rd, he was coming into town and wanted to meet up with me. For whatever reasons prior I had rejected this idea out of hand….but it was I came to find I needed to unload all the past hurt of how and why our 15-year relationship had failed, a purge that for many reasons would have been beneficial to all concerned….he’d told her that night it was important to him to do this as a type of atonement.

Not an hour later she called again to say he’d been taken by Life Flight helicopter to Harborview Medical Center Trauma ICU in Seattle.

I was shocked by my reaction of utter despair as I watched over the course of seven days as his brain function diminished to the point of unsustainability. I hope none of you ever have to go through a meeting with a Neurosurgeon who is trying, as tactfully as possible, to tell you there is no hope.

The decision was made the afternoon on the 11th to “pull the plug.” He died immediately.

If reading this makes anyone wear a better helmet, it was worth it to post.