Steve Sweitzer severely injured

[micaelb]

Many of us know Steve Sweitzer. He was the Chief at WISH for years, NPPA President in 1995 and was Chair of the TV Airborne Seminar and Advanced Storytelling Workshop. He's been a tireless worker for the NPPA and recently took on freelancing. Steve was on his bike Thursday and was struck by a car. Here's a more complete story:

http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/.../sweitzer.html

Please include Steve in your thoughts and prayers.

[zac love]

Years ago I sent a couple tapes down to Steve since I worked for a sister station of WISH. He took a look & gave me a call.

One story on a possible smoking ban in businesses had some b-roll that I was extremely proud of & I thought was better than the smoking b-roll off the CBS wire I had seen over 1,000 times. For that entire package all he said was "wall paper" & then moved onto critique the next piece on the tape.

My first instinct was to be extremely defensive, but somehow I had a moment of wisdom, swallowed my pride, kept my mouth shut & just listened. After we got off the phone, I looked at the pack again & realized he was right.

Those two words was one of those points where I see a "before & after" in my work. The amount of b-roll I shot & more importantly, how I used b-roll was changed for the better.

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Steve I hope you recover quickly & get back to making other impressionable shooters swallow their pride & improve their craft.

[Steve Sweitzer]

Thanks for all the words of encouragement from all over. I had my last "rescue" surgery on Monday and am moving into the plastic surgey phase. I think I've worked through the "why me?" pity party and am focusing on recovery. I'll probably always walk with a limp (someone reminded me I already did that). I hope to be shooting and storytelling soon and riding a bike ALWAYS WITH A HALMET.

[Lensmith]

So glad to actually see words from you Steve.

Wishing you the very best in speedy recoveries...yet knowing it's probably impossible not to have some kind of lasting effect from an experience like that. Either physical or mental. I don't think I could ever ride a bike with the same attitude again after hearing all you've had to go through.

[zac love]

Glad to see you're back on the boards. Good luck on the rest of your recovery.

[Steve Sweitzer]

If nothing else I hope others will realize the importance of wearing a helmet. I ALWAYS wear one. When the car hit, everything slowed down & I remember thinking as my head collided with the car's windshield at 30 mph, "This impact would have killed me if not for my Bell helmet." It's banged up but I never lost consciousness and my head is one of the few parts of my body that doesn't ache. Bell will be getting a "thanks for saving my life." letter.
Nice to see Lensman here. I still have fond memories of trading lines in this forum.

[zac love]

So what is the chance that you're going to be the subject of a July sweeps piece on helmet wearing in the summer time? ;-)

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My Dad has a similar story of when he took a spill off of his motorcycle. Wet road & a tight corner sent him sliding. After the 2nd or the 3rd time his head bounced off the pavement, he realized that his full face helmet is really worth the money.

[cyndygreen]

Sigh...glad to hear you survived. My thoughts are with you and yours.

[marstaton4]

Best wishes on your recovery.