Braam Smit down

Braam Smit had an unfortunate accident this morning. Apparantly a taxi ran a red robot and Braam went into its side. He is currently in ICU in Unitas, and will undergo a neck operation tonight.

We wish Braam all the best with the operation and pray that he will fully recover from this incident.

Our thoughts are with you Braam.

Ah no. Please keep us posted Pieter?

We trust you will recover Braam! You still have to win that trophy.

Good luck with the op - hope all goes well.

I visited Braam tonight in the Trauma ICU unit, and was lucky to speak to him.
By the sounds of it the 5 hour operation was a success and we hope and pray that you will have a speedy recovery.

Get well soon my FRIEND!!!

So sorry to hear.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Please keep us posted

All the best Braam, get well soon

Update : 7 July 2008 11:45

As Pauli said, the op went well and although tired, he is in good spirit. They had to take out a piece of bone from his hip to fix the neck. If there are no further complications, he should make a full recovery.

Still in Trauma ICU therefore not out of danger yet

Strongs & Best wishes to Braam from all of us at Think Bike.

Shout if you need anything.

Best of all Braam. Recover soon. You know where your strength come from.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
Get well soon.

We wish you a speedy recovery.

All the best Braam. Hope your up and riding again soon

Hope you get well soon !!!!

Story from Martin Janse Van Rensburg (aka Tjopper) who rode with Braam

So this is what happened:

We went (Braam and myself) went out on Sunday morning early for fun ride to Pretoria West. No major technical or high speed stuff, just a fun outride.

Left from Braam’s house at about 07:15, travel by tar and sidewalks in general direction to Pretoria West. This basically means past Swartkop, Laudium, hook left in I can’t remember street, but it is called Rod at the place where the accident happened.

Basically we always race from traffic light to the next one and cruise at a leisure speed to, well the next red light.

When stopping at the red light (Rod street) to cross Church street (It becomes Strachan Street as you cross), we flew out of the blocks on the green light. Braam was a slight bit quicker of the mark than me and collided with a taxi that skipped his red light from our right hand side. Braam hit the taxi more or less 4 meters into the crossing on or just behind the taxi left front wheel. I can’t explain the picture as vivid as it is my mind here without getting very emotional…



After this I helped him as best as I could, phoned the ambulance, phoned his wife, redirected some cars, had a tiff with a very obnoxious traffic officer, skrikked myself icey cold when Braam couldn’t feel or move his legs. (Usually not a good sign). Also the bit where you should keep calm, keep Belinda (pregnant) calm, not show alarm to your patient. Braam was completely calm and gave details such as ID, wife’s phone number (mine didn’t answer any of the eight phones in the house), arranged lift back to my house and dropped bikes. Ambulance on the way to Unitas hospital.



Sent sms’s to as many people as I knew knows Braam, met up at the hospital with lots of support (All the guys from our care group, CMA, family friends etc).

Went to hospital and prayed, cried, prayed, cried, prayed etc…then prayed some more through tears.

The support and prayer was unbelievable, and so was the miracle of when I saw Braam in hospital tonight! He is his bubbling self. The steadfast rock of trueness we all know so well, and the same person I see, not as a friend, but a brother. Thanks to all the Moamers that phoned, sms’ed and even arrived at hospital. Braam can now see two people at a time during visiting hours. Go and say hello, he’ll appreciate it!



For those that don’t know, Braam fractured/broke his C5 neck vertebrae. Luckily it didn’t break the fragile marrow where lots of important bits (such as leg and arm movement sit). With limited medical knowledge, I just know this is usually very serious. He had an operation yesterday afternoon, where they took a bit of his pelvis bone and fused C4,5 and 6 (I think…).



Braam will walk out of hospital on Friday.



Tjopper.



PS on two things:

Leat Brace is next purchase, I suggest you do the same.

Don’t hate taxi drivers (OK, I know this bit is difficult and I still struggle with this) but basically not good to hate anybody, just takes you to a level below the person you are hating, and gives you a hardened hart.

pdekoker wrote:Story from Martin Janse Van Rensburg (aka Tjopper) who rode with Braam

PS on two things:

Leat Brace is next purchase, I suggest you do the same.

Don’t hate taxi drivers (OK, I know this bit is difficult and I still struggle with this) but basically not good to hate anybody, just takes you to a level below the person you are hating, and gives you a hardened hart.

Hi, just looked up on the Leatt Brace and found this story - http://www.planetminis.com/f71/leat-brace-cuts-kneck-65015.html

Interesting!! It seems that the cut was caused because the rider removed some padding and did not ride with a chest protector. I will prefer a cut (Excluding a cut to an artery) to neck damage any day.

I will definitely get myself a Leatt Brace ASAP. You never know when you will need it.


I am just glad that Braam is going to be OK. Whether he will regain full mobility of his neck is still a question and I suppose off-road riding might be out of the question for a certain period.

I agree, BMW sells a neck brace as well just costs a fortune !!!

I do not know Braam but wish him all the best, i have heard from other people that you do not dress for the ride, but for the fall !!!

I thank the good Lord every time i get to work in one peace and back home in one peace, the morning rush hour and afternoon is quite hectic and one has to try and think and act for everyone !!!

Update!!!

I visited Braam this afternoon and MAN is he a strong boy.

He's out of High Care and was moved to a normal ward today.

He was doing so fine today he forced me to feed him Biltong & Droewors!!!!

He is very positive, and is slowly starting to get feeling back in his hands and legs (this is normal due to the surgery and swelling).

I personally think it wouldn't be to long before the man can go home.

He even laughed out loud when I said "Jy't min dae die GS Challenge is om die draai"

Not too sure of market prices but check this link http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/8347055/LEATT_BRACE_MOTO_GPX.html

this is truly amazing..........out of ICU, out of high care in less than two days and all this after such a delicate 5 hour long operation.

Pain is a bit of a problem now as the pain killers were reduced from the levels it was in ICU but this is understandable, it was after all a huge operation.

He is in good spirits and sends his regards to all

Sterkte Braam ons dink aan jou

We're very thankful to hear this wonderful news! Moed hou Braam!

Am so glad to hear Braam is out of danger. I am sure he will recover fully and soon grace the floor of Bavarian with his usual friendly and helpful demeanour.

We all know they skip traffic lights - that is the way they drive to the extreme East and West of Pretoria - normal modus operandi - slack down to 3d and the first at the light barrels through. Pity that one more of our own feel victim to our fellow roadusers. However am glad to hear that Braam is well and on his way to full recovery. Vasbyt Braam. LeRoy