Uncle Mike

As of last evening, Mike had been moved to a normal hospital room, had a new addition in his side, a tube to eliminate some internal bleeding pushing against his lungs, only 10% deflation of his damaged lung, and they were going to get him up to walk last night. Last we talked with Uncle David, he and Aunt Terry were on their way to grab a bite to eat and pick up a shake for Uncle Mike.. and he was very happy to hear that!

David picked up the bike from the lot in Enid where it went after the accident and quickly decide the nice folks running it were crooks... NEVER call Direct Towing in Enid for any reason!
He reported the bike is in three pieces and is completely messed up on the side we could not see, including a broke frame. I believe he reported the bike to be in three pieces and nothing moved, with most damage on side we could not see or that was not shown in the photos from Saturday.

As of last evening we believe he will be in St. Mary's for at least another week, and then to rehab but this is very fluid and subject to change hourly or more often.

His attitude is great. His memory is a bit improved, amazingly on some things and lacking in places, like mine on a normal day, haha....

Not sure his room number... Ann knows it...

but to send cards... use:

St. Mary's Regional Medical Center Attn: Patient Mr. Mike Shaklee 305 South 5th Enid, OK 73701

and phone to call and talk... main number is (580) 233-6100  and I be they will transfer you to his room.


All I know for now.... 

Mike heading home in 2008....

Ann and Mike... wonder if she needs a bike...

the helmet that saved a life, and the rider who was wearing it!

  

Mike took this photo of his bike on June 6th, 2008 at his home with his new camera.

Mike update.. 9:30am

Mom just talked via phone with Mike, and David.

He told her he was told he had a motorcycle wreck and that maybe he was getting to old for that... haha...

He was eating broth and ice fed to him by David.

Ann and Heather are going over this afternoon, I think.. such great news.

This event could have been easily very different if he had not had his helmet on.

That one piece of equipment saved his life... NO DOUBT about it!  It is cracked from top to bottom on backside and had the strap torn away, and while it was black, we were told there was red paint all over it, but then had that correct to blood all over it.

He has a mark around his face where the force of the wreck threw him into the front of the helmet.

His Dr. is Dr. Pollard, and he told us while showing us the exrays... just how easily it would have been different outcome without helmet, and we all agreed that if he did not have his helmet, yesterday would have been planning a funeral instead of visiting him in ICU.

So... good news today.. let's hope it stays on this course...

Photo from Tammy....

Ed's note:

Wow....
There is quite a tale here to tell.. haha...

I think after this time, I have learned my lesson.

I used to never ever ever plan a thing, knowing it would be changed at the last minute.
But, even knowing this, I decided back in the late winter to change my thinking regarding this and start planning things like most normal folks...

So, I bought Alice in Wonderland 3D tickets for me and my family to see the movie in Tulsa at IMAX....  Ann and I did not get to go and those tickets were lost...

Then, I bought tickets to see Ellis Paul for Ann and I and we did not get to go to this show but unlike last time and tickets lost.. our tickets were used by Jake and Trish, so not all lost...

but I would love to have been on this trip and to eat here... etc..

maybe in another life... where nothing is planned... again... haha... rock on.. glad you guys had a great time! Dad M

Ellis Paul, by Phillip Moffat, at concert in El Reno last night... amazing story teller and songwriter...etc...

James Seals, by Phillip Moffat, Ellis Paul concert last evening, he will be in Studio soon recording new record

From Phillip: Enjoying James Seal at The Oklahoma Vintage Guitar summer showcase series... 

Andrew Paul Blankinship, by Phillip Moffat

Austin Lee Moffat, by Phillip Moffat

This was the motorcycle that Mike Shaklee was riding on a nice Friday evening ride over to Nash to fuel up... after a young lady from Jet pulled out in front of him.

nothing pretty after a near death van vs. cycle experience for 65 year old Mike Shaklee, who has his 66th birthday this month.

Ann and brother Mike... David was there,  but all I had was my phone camera and didn't think to get a photo him and Mike ... darn it!
Anyway... what we know ....
Mike had been working on a water line all afternoon, and his neighbor on the hill east and his wife road into Helena to fuel up their bike and were returning home and stopped to visit with Mike, who had gotten the fever to ride too and had saddled up and was heading out too.  Jerry LaGrow had been checking cattle and drove by his home and saw the two sets of bikes and folks visiting. About an hour later, the call came in. Connie LaGrow had gotten the call first from a friend of hers that had been following Mike when the van pulled out in front of him and had stopped to help till first responders got there. Connie called Grandma Moffat to get our number and then called us. quite an evening.... after that...
Today we know
He has many 'splintered' ribs, a really bad messed up right eye and fractures of the bones around it, his brain in the center left rear lobe has some leakage behind it, and his back has some twisting, and he has a very swollen left hand and fingers and his collar bone is hurting, and he is in lots of pain and heavily sedated.
As to how the wreck happened...
Might was headed West on 64 out of Nash back to Jet and home. He was following a truck, and it was 7ish... with sun in his eyes.... at the intersection of 132 North, the trucked passed and a young lady from Jet was sitting getting ready to turn west into sun on 64. She waited on the truck and then pulled out in front of Mike, not seeing him, thinking the truck went now my turn... and Mike hit her as she pulled out. We heard he was 60 feet from point of impact and 20 feet off the road. The lady in the van, who's air bag went off, was taken to Bass Hosp in Enid, and she kept wondering who the cyclist was. When they later told her, she passed out. She knew Mike!
The lady who was following stopped to render first aid (a nurse I believe) was later joined by another lady who stopped to help her...

And if you were listening to the news this past week, the fire in Jet OK that killed two... was fought by Shane, Amber's husband... and it was the former home of Edith Shaklee, Fred's wife, Harold's Mom. Amber and family live just to the east and saw the flames, from their home. Shane is on the fire dept and turned out to help.
Edith lived there when Ann and I were first married, and we visited her only a couple of times before she moved.

This is for Butch and Rose Young... our world famous hog auctioneer ... and neighbor... and the story goes...

Isabella Ann Moffat  26 Months

Butch has auctioneered hog sales forever... and almost all the great show pig auctions in the USA. Many years ago when Jake was this size, he would accompany Butch...  on some of his shorter trips... to bordering states, and Jake loved fries and nuggets, but especially fries.

Butch and Rose drifted over the other evening and if you know Butch he loves a great story and even more he loves telling them, and he is very good at it. He starts telling about how he remembers all the trips with Jake and how he loved his fries and how you could not even when he was asleep get the bag from him or the fry from his hand... haha.. and I thought he was going to hit the floor he was laughing so hard... as we all were...

So, this photo and it's story.  On Memorial Day, Ann with Jake and Trish and Isabella went up home to the cemetery to put out flowers, and hit McDonald's on the way out of town, and here is the result...

So this is for you Butch, Jake lives on... through his daughter, haha...     Isabella Ann and her French fries.

Uncle Mike...

For those of you who read this from afar... some sad news this evening...

Ann's brother Mike Shaklee was involved in a motorcycle vs. vehicle this evening around 7ish east of Nash, OK at the intersection of 132 and the highway that goes into Jet. As luck would have it, the nurse on Ambulance was a friend of Connie LaGrow's and called her after getting Mike to St. Mary's in Enid. She called us with the news.

He was wearing his helmet and we know now he has at least four broken ribs that have punctured his lung on one side, he has a nasty injury over an eye on his head and the cat scan showed he has some brain bleeding, but they are keeping him in Enid for now to see how he does. He will be in ICU after he gets out of emergency and they will keep him sedated for a while. He will be in hospital for some time, they thought. Right now, they don't know much else so we don't either. David did get to see him for a bit but only a short time and he and Terry are there now. We offered to come but he thought the need was not there to rush over, and Aunt Mert and Rodney, and some other family and friends are there now too...
We will keep you informed as we learn more with time.
Please keep him in your prayers...

Jerry and Connie LaGrow were out checking cattle this evening and drove by Mike's and he was out front talking to another bike with a man and woman on it... maybe his neighbor to the east that lives where the Timberlake Church was on the corner east... anyway, Jerry said Mike headed west after they passed and the other bike went on East...  about an hour before the accident...


Again... please lift up your prayers for Mike... I know he would appreciate it. He is in fact a cornerstone for all of us in our times of need....

May 28, 2010

Stillwater gospel group seeks to bring community together through concert

By Chelcey AdamiStillwater NewsPress

STILLWATER, Okla. — The Stillwater gospel group, the Messengers, will present “God’s Message in Our Music” Gospel Explosion Concert beginning at 3:30 p.m. June 5 at the Seretean Center 225 S. Knoblock. The concert will feature about a dozen gospel groups from all over Oklahoma including Yale, Oklahoma City and Cushing. Admission is $10, and proceeds go toward area churches.

“It’s the way the Lord gave me to show faith. A lot of people preach the Word, we sing the Word to people,” The Messengers member Jerry Owens said.

Nearly 500 people are expected in attendance, The Messengers member Steven Murray said, and they hope that this concert will be the beginning of several annual events to pull the community together through faith and music.

“We want to make the world a better place than we found it,” Murray said. “They can come in sad and leave glad.”

The Messengers gospel group is made up of nine men from various churches in the Stillwater community. The group originally began as the Inspired Gospel Singers and later became The Messengers in 2008. Their drummer, Bobby Thomas, died last July, and the group’s trip to his services in Louisiana has inspired lots of their music and songs, Owens said.

Murray said that the last time there was a large gospel concert open to the community of Stillwater was in the late 60s. Most gospel concerts now are held privately in churches, he said.

“This generation needs to know what brought them here today,” Owens said.

Several members of the group said that they hope their gospel music can be spiritually therapeutic to people.

“Hopefully, this can help people in the street who might be having problems,” Darroyl Garrett said.

“There might be a word or part of that song that soothes you,” Owens said.

“If you can touch one or two, three people, we have accomplished our goal to bring the Word of God to them,” The Messengers member O’Neal Smith said.

Gospel music groups performing in the concert include The Messengers, The Friendly Oklahoma Jubilees of Tulsa, Back Porch Gospel Singers of Yale, Tangi and Submission of Oklahoma City, Elder Azel Higgs and Sons of Oklahoma City, Flying Clouds of Cushing and others. The concert is expected to last into the evening, and food and refreshments will be available.

Halfway through the concert, awards will be presented to legendary and outstanding gospel singers. The event is open to the public.

“We want everybody to know, to see and to feel what this is about,” Owens said. “We’re out here, because the Lord wanted us to be here.”

Call 405-762-2880 or 405-624-0525 for tickets or information.

another view.. this shows the guage that the driver uses to make sure the platform is level while workers work away... Goober Drilling schooling...

Jake and his crew ... working for PC Steel Buildings in Stillwater, were in OKC working on the new transit authority maintenance building... a big building... He said there are many workers and contractors working and it can be a bit overwhelming sometimes for some of the workers... but if you know Jake.. he thrives in those situations.. haha...  and I think today he gets his first paycheck in almost 18 months without one. He said he might have to take a photo of it just to hold onto, but reports it will be awesome to finally get one and know there are others coming!  He was hired on as a welder and you can see here some of his other skills... haha... If I sound like I am gushing, I am. I am excited he has a job too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

another view

Jake's view....

busses and trolleys waiting to be put inside in OKC... guys got to get'er done.. and they will...