Max
11-13-2001, 03:16 PM
Paralyzed biker back in saddle
http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/11/13/local_news/JBIKE13.htm
With a customized motorcycle, he has braved the open road and found happiness again.
Billy Riviello, paralyzed from the waist down in a 1997 accident, has returned to his longtime passion - working on cars and motorcycles - at Carpenter Race Engines in Berlin Township. (Michael Plunkett / Inquirer)
By Thom Guarnieri
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Four years ago, when he was 24, Billy Riviello was in a motorcycle accident that robbed him of the use of his legs. He underwent surgery and rehabilitation, and later, in a wheelchair, he returned to work at his father's service station in Voorhees.
So what does he do now for recreation?
He goes out motorcycle riding with his friends.
"When I'm on a bike, I feel pretty normal," he said. "It's a nice feeling."
Since July, he has logged about 2,000 miles on his customized 1,000cc Honda, mostly on weekends and mostly on back roads of South Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
"When Billy likes something," said his father, Bill, "he goes into it whole hog. I'm proud of him. He's not just sitting back feeling sorry for himself."
But, he admitted, his son's return to riding did take some getting used to.
After Billy Riviello left Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia early in 1998 and went back to work, he became frustrated. Always active, he faced a life unlike any he had known. He could no longer ride motorcycles or play football or volleyball with friends. Even working on cars - his longtime joy - was much more difficult from a wheelchair.
In the accident, Riviello broke his spine in two places and lost his ability to walk. According to Geri Zelazny, clinical coordinator for the Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center of the Delaware Valley, which is based at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, at least 150 traumatic spinal-cord injuries from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware are treated at the center each year. She said about 10,000 people across the nation suffer these injuries annually.
"I didn't know what I'd be able to do," Riviello said. Then he saw an article in Sport Rider magazine about a guy in California who could not walk but who had customized a motorcycle so he could ride it. Riviello was intrigued.
"I saw no reason why I shouldn't try it," he said. Riviello contacted the man by e-mail. Before long, he made the man an offer to buy his bike. Then he told his father.
"I went ballistic," his father said. "I said, 'Are you crazy? Do you want to finish the job?' I was ready to fire him. That's how frustrated I was.
"But I knew deep inside all I could say was 'Please be careful.' "
A few weeks later, in June 1999, the bike arrived, and he watched his son clean his new prize.
He said his son "gave up so much because of the accident. Now he was happy again."
Since Riviello has no movement in or control of his legs, he needs help getting on and off the bike and has his riding boots fastened in place on either side of the bike with Velcro.
An armlike device that Riviello can raise or lower was attached to the rear of the bike to keep it from tipping when it came to a halt; he said that his hands on the handlebar were enough to maintain his balance while riding. In addition, the motorcycle's foot-operated gear-shift pedal was removed, and a push-button gear changer was added to the handlebar.
The first time he got on the bike, Riviello said, he was "excited and nervous at the same time." After riding the seven miles from the gas station to his home, he said, "I couldn't wait to get off."
This year, he went to two California Superbike School sessions in Danville, Va., and Watkins Glen, N.Y. Cobie Fair, the school's chief riding instructor, saw Riviello ride.
"I'm impressed as hell," he said. "I've never seen anything like it."
From what he saw, Fair said, Riviello "isn't going to just sit back and let life run him."
Riviello started cycling about age 6 when he got his first dirt bike. He liked working on cars, but said he always had a dirt bike. At 20, he got his first street bike.
The day of the accident, Sept. 28, 1997, he and eight friends were heading along Route 82 in Chester County when they came up behind a pickup. Each passed it in turn, but when Riviello's turn came, the driver did not see him and pulled into the passing lane to avoid a girl riding a bike along the shoulder. Riviello slammed into the truck.
He was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he underwent surgery for fractures to his upper back.
Now he lives in Sicklerville and works at Carpenter Race Engines in Berlin Township, where the engine parts are smaller and easier to handle. The shop does high-performance work on motorcycle engines.
He waxes philosophical about what has happened to him.
"If someone was in a serious car accident," he said, "they would get back in a car and drive."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thom Guarnieri's e-mail address is tguarnieri@
__________________________________________________ __
Maksim (Max) Bily
mail to : imax@odyssee.net
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit www.sciwire.org (http://www.sciwire.org) for best spinal cord injury info.
www.thinkwave.com (http://www.thinkwave.com) -Where Teachers, Students and Parents Communicate
Play International Red Cross Lottery online
for weekly jackpot of 20.000.000 Swiss Franks tax free...
http://www.pluslotto.com/default.asp?urlref=3300003298889
http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/11/13/local_news/JBIKE13.htm
With a customized motorcycle, he has braved the open road and found happiness again.
Billy Riviello, paralyzed from the waist down in a 1997 accident, has returned to his longtime passion - working on cars and motorcycles - at Carpenter Race Engines in Berlin Township. (Michael Plunkett / Inquirer)
By Thom Guarnieri
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Four years ago, when he was 24, Billy Riviello was in a motorcycle accident that robbed him of the use of his legs. He underwent surgery and rehabilitation, and later, in a wheelchair, he returned to work at his father's service station in Voorhees.
So what does he do now for recreation?
He goes out motorcycle riding with his friends.
"When I'm on a bike, I feel pretty normal," he said. "It's a nice feeling."
Since July, he has logged about 2,000 miles on his customized 1,000cc Honda, mostly on weekends and mostly on back roads of South Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
"When Billy likes something," said his father, Bill, "he goes into it whole hog. I'm proud of him. He's not just sitting back feeling sorry for himself."
But, he admitted, his son's return to riding did take some getting used to.
After Billy Riviello left Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia early in 1998 and went back to work, he became frustrated. Always active, he faced a life unlike any he had known. He could no longer ride motorcycles or play football or volleyball with friends. Even working on cars - his longtime joy - was much more difficult from a wheelchair.
In the accident, Riviello broke his spine in two places and lost his ability to walk. According to Geri Zelazny, clinical coordinator for the Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center of the Delaware Valley, which is based at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, at least 150 traumatic spinal-cord injuries from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware are treated at the center each year. She said about 10,000 people across the nation suffer these injuries annually.
"I didn't know what I'd be able to do," Riviello said. Then he saw an article in Sport Rider magazine about a guy in California who could not walk but who had customized a motorcycle so he could ride it. Riviello was intrigued.
"I saw no reason why I shouldn't try it," he said. Riviello contacted the man by e-mail. Before long, he made the man an offer to buy his bike. Then he told his father.
"I went ballistic," his father said. "I said, 'Are you crazy? Do you want to finish the job?' I was ready to fire him. That's how frustrated I was.
"But I knew deep inside all I could say was 'Please be careful.' "
A few weeks later, in June 1999, the bike arrived, and he watched his son clean his new prize.
He said his son "gave up so much because of the accident. Now he was happy again."
Since Riviello has no movement in or control of his legs, he needs help getting on and off the bike and has his riding boots fastened in place on either side of the bike with Velcro.
An armlike device that Riviello can raise or lower was attached to the rear of the bike to keep it from tipping when it came to a halt; he said that his hands on the handlebar were enough to maintain his balance while riding. In addition, the motorcycle's foot-operated gear-shift pedal was removed, and a push-button gear changer was added to the handlebar.
The first time he got on the bike, Riviello said, he was "excited and nervous at the same time." After riding the seven miles from the gas station to his home, he said, "I couldn't wait to get off."
This year, he went to two California Superbike School sessions in Danville, Va., and Watkins Glen, N.Y. Cobie Fair, the school's chief riding instructor, saw Riviello ride.
"I'm impressed as hell," he said. "I've never seen anything like it."
From what he saw, Fair said, Riviello "isn't going to just sit back and let life run him."
Riviello started cycling about age 6 when he got his first dirt bike. He liked working on cars, but said he always had a dirt bike. At 20, he got his first street bike.
The day of the accident, Sept. 28, 1997, he and eight friends were heading along Route 82 in Chester County when they came up behind a pickup. Each passed it in turn, but when Riviello's turn came, the driver did not see him and pulled into the passing lane to avoid a girl riding a bike along the shoulder. Riviello slammed into the truck.
He was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he underwent surgery for fractures to his upper back.
Now he lives in Sicklerville and works at Carpenter Race Engines in Berlin Township, where the engine parts are smaller and easier to handle. The shop does high-performance work on motorcycle engines.
He waxes philosophical about what has happened to him.
"If someone was in a serious car accident," he said, "they would get back in a car and drive."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thom Guarnieri's e-mail address is tguarnieri@
__________________________________________________ __
Maksim (Max) Bily
mail to : imax@odyssee.net
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit www.sciwire.org (http://www.sciwire.org) for best spinal cord injury info.
www.thinkwave.com (http://www.thinkwave.com) -Where Teachers, Students and Parents Communicate
Play International Red Cross Lottery online
for weekly jackpot of 20.000.000 Swiss Franks tax free...
http://www.pluslotto.com/default.asp?urlref=3300003298889