Even After a Boomer Goes Boom, the Race for Fitness Continues

Four weeks, four aspiring MisFits, four articles: Today we bring you the last in our series of tryout columns by men and women who'd like to become Vicky Hallett's partner. Like his predecessors in this space, today's contributor is anonymous, but be sure to check back next Tuesday, when we'll identify the winner.

Until that dreary morning last year I'd never done a cartwheel. Alas, I don't recall my first, but they say that's a good thing. Your brain will draw a dark curtain around what it thinks you're better off not remembering.

The doctors and the lawyers needed to know, however, so now I know what my brain won't tell me.

From the driver's testimony: "I would say he was airborne for -- from the point where he separated from his bike -- 10 to 15 feet before he hit the ground, and he bounced, quite literally, back into the air from that initial impact."

From the surgeon's commentary: "Your helmet is cracked because you landed directly on your forehead."

From the medical reports: "Unstable neck fracture, C1-C2."

The driver: He "basically tumbled from there down the hill . . . somersaulting, rolling . . . an end-over-end all the way into my car."

The surgeon's commentary: "You were doing cartwheels."

The medical reports: "right wrist and hand fracture"; "left second rib fracture"; "left [shoulder] separation."

Driver: "He was on his back . . . I said, 'Don't move.' "

Medical reports: First surgery: "This was a complex operation . . . requiring two board-certified neurosurgeons . . . using a power drill preset to 28 mm we cautiously drilled holes through the [top vertebra] . . . we inserted 22 mm titanium screws into these holes . . . and locked them down with a torque wrench."

Second surgery: "The [shoulder] was exposed . . . the drill guide was placed . . . a wire was passed through [the hole] . . . and tied on the top" to close the separation.