RICHMOND, Va. — Former CBS 6 employee Todd Kirkpatrick was a literal Belle Isle "trail blazer."
At 26 years old, he spent much of his free time flying down the island's trails on his mountain bike. He often rode his bike before his shift at Blue Ridge Mountain Sports in Richmond's West End.
One day in May 2008, Kirkpatrick was riding from the Buttermilk Trail through Belle Isle before work.
"I had ridden this many times before," Kirkpatrick explained. "I was no stranger to this, but that particular day, I just happened to be going a little too fast."
Kirkpatrick said while riding, he hit a berm, several yards away from the bridge that crosses the James River.
“I do remember a moment of panic where I knew that I wasn’t coming down at the right angle," Kirkpatrick explained. “I had a whole lot of speed and had just come that way off the trails, and did a big jump right here into the air and went over my handlebars and came down on the side of my face and head.”
Kirkpatrick said everything went black.
“I remember coming to and seeing this bridge behind us, that’s the only recollection I had after the injury and then woke up at the hospital briefly. I remember my clothes being cut off of me. And I think the next day I woke up and I was surrounded by family," he explained.
He'd suffered a traumatic brain injury.
"There's part of your brain called the corpus callosum, it's basically a bridge between both hemispheres of the brain, and I injured that area, so there was bleeding around that area that they were concerned about," Kirkpatrick said.
He says he survived because of his helmet, dented and cracked from the crash, and the kindness of a stranger.
"I don't know who found me," Kirkpatrick said.
A good Samaritan called for help, and, somehow, kept the the surprises coming once he'd returned to work. They'd returned his bike.
"I had already chalked up the loss, I hadn’t even considered seeing it again. I walked back in the stockroom and there she was. I remember being elated and forever grateful for whoever rescued me, and rescued the bike."
Kirkpatrick thinks whoever found him that day may have found his cell phone in his backpack and was able to call his friend to get more information.
He wonders if they ever shared their name.
“It’s been 16, a little over 16 years, and just about every day I wonder who did this, so, I’d really like to figure that out," Kirkpatrick said.
Kirkpatrick still feels the effects of his injury, from losing his ability to play music, to having difficulties sharing his thoughts conversationally.
"I used to be able to articulate my thoughts much better than this. And that’s one of the frustrating things about TBIs, a lot of people that have had them feel like a ghost version of themselves. You’re there but you’re not the person you were," Kirkpatrick said. “I have a lot of difficulty, still, getting the words out on time, so it’s a very much, tip of your tongue feeling that’s always there.”
However, the returned bike, and the random person behind the act of kindness that potentially saved his life, is a positive reminder for him.
“From outward appearances I looked pretty normal, but for the first few years after the accident, no matter who I was talking to, whether they were friends or family, I always ended the conversation with ‘I love you,’ because we don’t know if and when we’re going to see each other again or what the capacity of your function is going to be the next day if you get in an accident just out of the blue, and that’s what happened to me," he said. “For me I guess this bike means a second chance in a much different life.”
Now, years later, Kirkpatrick is sharing his story, hoping to meet the person that helped him find his footing, after experiencing that life-altering fall from his bike.
“It’s been a mystery for 16 years and I’d like to put the pieces together finally.”
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