DRAPER, Utah — A Draper man is fighting to recover after a mountain bike crash in Puerto Rico left him with life-threatening injuries and a days-long struggle just to get home for treatment.
Professional cyclist Bryson Perry was injured on a BMX track in Puerto Rico last week. Perry is now at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, where he has just finished several surgeries to repair serious injuries sustained in the crash.
"I looked down at my leg and I saw my leg and it was like an S. I'm like, well, my leg is broken," Perry said.
Along with a broken femur, Perry's injuries include fractures in his neck, back, wrist, and sternum, 7 broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a broken wrist.
Perry said the crash was a freak accident. "I could do the same thing 1,000 times, a million times, and never have the same outcome," Perry said.
Doctors in Puerto Rico were unable to perform the complicated surgeries he needed, even after he was transferred from a regional hospital to the main hospital in San Juan.
His wife, also a cycling coach, Summer Perry, described the experience. "In Puerto Rico, it was mostly survival, honestly, really super hard, very difficult," Summer Perry said.
She said the hospitals were overwhelmed with patients in need of care. "There were so many patients there who even needed care ahead of him who were not getting the care. So whether it's a spinal cord injury, whether it's a — the boy lost his leg. They just, they cannot get to the people," Perry said.
Bryson said he had concerns about the level of care available. "I was fearful for, I think, several things, but I could just tell they didn't have the experience and the knowledge that the doctors here have," Perry said.
That's when the family knew they had to get home quickly — but even that proved difficult.
"Just trying to help schedule Life Flight, they had to call the hospital to get things pushed through or whatever. And they, even they were having a hard time like getting hung up on, getting yelled at, just trying to get care," Summer Perry said.
After 5 days in two Puerto Rican hospitals with no treatment, the Perrys finally got on a Life Flight jet. "Seeing the Life Flight team show up at that hospital was like the greatest miracle and blessing of all time. Like, now he's gonna be OK," Summer Perry said.
Bryson Perry said the relief was immediate. "It was like instantly like, oh my gosh, you guys, you saved my life," Perry said.
Recovery will take months, with weeks ahead in the hospital and a rehabilitation facility. The financial toll is also significant. Summer Perry said insurance coverage for the Puerto Rico portion of his care is uncertain.
"On the Puerto Rico side, they do not accept American insurance. We do have a secondary insurance that we haven't really navigated, that's on the bike insurance, but regardless, the costs are gonna be — we don't even know," Summer Perry said.
The couple says the bills could reach well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Bryson Perry said he will also be unable to work his main job in residential real estate during his recovery.
Despite the stress, the couple says they are leaning on their faith and the bicycling community around them. "We feel stressed, but we feel loved and supported at the same time. I feel like it will, it will work out," they said.
The Perrys lead and coach a bike-racing team together and travel the world competing. They say that a large group of families and their faith gives them a lot of hope.
The Perrys have a GoFundMe set up to help with medical costs.
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