We all know by now that driving can be dangerous in almost unlimited ways. You may be hit by another car, a ladder may fall off the back of a truck in front of you, a tire may blow out for no reason. You can be a fire truck near a Teslaetc. Unfortunately, there is a new way of driving that can ruin you, and unfortunately it does the band Cliffdiver from Tulsa, Oklahomathey found out what it was on a recent drive from their hometown to Vegas.
The band left Tulsa looking forward to this first trip in their new, much more luxurious tour bus, only to have it all go very, very wrong after about an hour. According to guitarist/vocalist Matt Ehler, everything was going smoothly up until then. Suddenly, there was “a tremendous BOOM noise that sounded like a cannon being fired as the entire front of the van filled with broken glass and dust” as the window opened on the Something hit the driver’s side.
He immediately noticed that bassist Tyler Rogers was covered in blood, with blood spurting from his neck. As terrifying as that is, as the driver, Rogers caused his foot to touch the accelerator pedal as he lost consciousness and the van began to accelerate. Ehler struggled to get his foot off the pedal and take control of the wheel, but Rogers was belted in, making this difficult.
Eventually, Ehler was able to practically sit on Rogers’ lap and bring the van to a halt so they could begin administering first aid to Rogers. The band members in the background shouted instructions on what to do for first aid and how to apply pressure to the wound, while another called 911 for emergency services. Luckily the band was right next to a mile marker so the van was easy to find.
Paramedics arrived immediately and put Rogers in an ambulance. During this time, to the band’s great relief, he briefly regained consciousness and was taken to a nearby hospital for life-saving surgery. Doctors estimated that he had lost more than two liters of blood. For reference, the human body holds about five (or about 1.25 gallons) total.
The sheriff who came to investigate said a large broken link stuck in Rogers’ neck likely came from a broken load chain on a passing semi truck. When the chain failed under tension, the link shot off at extremely high speed, and it turned out that Cliffdiver’s transporter was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Thankfully, Rogers was lucky because thanks to the quick mind and first aid provided by his bandmates, he was able to get to the hospital alive despite a puncture in his carotid artery, lacerations to his carotid artery, and broken necks. His chances of survival were incredibly slim, but he was transferred from intensive care to recovery less than 24 hours after the operation, and it appears he is making a full recovery with no damage to his brain from the blood loss.
Of course, due to these events, the band had to cancel their performances and Tyler Rogers will not be able to work for some time. So the band set up a GoFundMe page to help him with his medical expenses. We’re sure you’d love it if you donated a few euros Buy Cliffdivers music on Bandcamp.
