A Rockford man shares the story of setbacks and challenges after an accident

ROCKFORD, Mich. – Dave Medema of Rockford is grateful to be alive after a horrific accident nearly took his life.

May 10 marks two years since his bicycle accident and he said he is still on the path to achieving his life’s goal.

“I would never have chosen it, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” Dave Medema said.

The crash occurred when Medema struck a tree hanging low over its path.

“I hit the brakes so hard that I didn’t hit the tree, but I fell over the handlebars, dragging the bike and the top of my head cracked the asphalt,” Medema said. “I would have been dead if I hadn’t had a helmet. So no helmet, I’m literally an organ donor on the spot.”

Dave and his friends visited the crash site on Friday and although his life has changed forever, he is more grateful for his family, his friends and the things in life that we sometimes take for granted.

Medema suffered a spinal cord injury, brain damage and was paralyzed. Rehabilitation at the Mary Free Bed has helped him regain his strength and independence, which is why he is now riding again with his friends.

“We saw him persevere, we saw him stick with it, do the exercises, follow the instructions and never give up,” said Denny Sturtevant, Medema’s friend of 40 years.

Medema said that things in his life have slowed down a bit for the better because of the accident.

“I’m a lot slower now, but not so slow that I can’t ride my bike anymore. I’m still riding at a pretty robust pace, but I’m just slowing down my work rate,” Medema said.

A long-time cyclist, he has worked much of his life to set a goal that he has almost achieved: cycling 100,000 miles.

After the accident, he is just as motivated to achieve his goal and with the support of his friends, he is confident that he will achieve it.

“I thought maybe it would be fun in my life to reach a six-figure, 100,000 goal, so I’m still about 2,000 miles away from that. So about 98,000 fewer,” Medema said.

Since the accident, his wife said she has learned to be more compassionate and is grateful for every moment she has with Dave.

“Suffering has the ability to divide and terrorize you, or you have the choice to say we will show up, we will show up and we will not fight against reality,” said Fenna Diephuis.

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