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Cyclist remains in ICU after hit-and-run
UPDATE JAN. 20:
From Mariel’s sister Christine Mentink:
“Mariel is going through a bit of a rough patch this week and last. Part of recovering from brain trauma is going through storming, and she is experiencing quite a bit of it. During this process, Mariel cannot have a many visitors or noise around her and cannot be moved much. Her physical therapy is also extremely limited because of storming, so she has been very immobile the last 20 days since the accident and hopefully that changes soon. Once storming subsides and some troublesome brain fluid subsides (another small setback), the family hopes to move her out of the ICU and to a Chicago rehabilitation facility. Our mom and many relatives live in the area, so it is a better location for her during recovery. So, at the moment, we’re in a waiting period and anxious to start seeing more dramatic progress. However, she is heading in the right direction and we are thankful for that.
Mariel’s friends have put together the following site to try to help her with the costs incurred during this process. It is www.supportmarielmentink.com.”
A 24-year-old woman remains in intensive care at Brackenridge Hospital after she was struck from behind while riding her bike home early New Year’s Day.
Mariel Mentink was pedaling west in the 4700 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at about 2:30 a.m. when she was hit. She and another cyclist were riding home after a late-night group bike ride to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
The driver fled the scene.
Mentink, a recent graduate of Northern Illinois University who worked as a bike delivery person for Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches in Austin, was wearing a helmet and lights when she was hit.
“That helmet was the difference between life and death,” says her sister, Christine Mentink.
Mentink suffered multiple skull fractures, brain trauma and broken bones in her neck, back, hip and leg, according to her sister. She’s undergone three surgeries. She’s not in a coma, but is medically sedated to reduce the pain.
“She can open her eyes half way and we think she’s tracking people,” Christine Mentink says. “We don’t know how much she’s perceiving because she can’t speak or move.”
Mariel Mentink is the youngest of four siblings, “the baby and the favorite” in a family of urban cyclists, her sister says. She’s an avid seamstress who was trying to start a business selling hats for cyclists at local bike shops. She has a degree in graphic design.
“She had a car that didn’t work, so her primary mode of transportation was her bicycle,” Christine Mentink says.
Two benefits are being planned to help cover Mentink’s medical expenses.
Social Cycling ATX is planning an event Feb. 5 at Red 7, 611 East 7th St. (No details yet.) Another is planned for 5 p.m. Feb. 25 at Shangri-La, 1016 E. Sixth St. It one will include live music, raffles and donations.
The family is also setting up a fund to help cover medical expenses. I’ll post that information when I get it.
The cyclist who was with Mentink when the wreck happened thinks a gray SUV or pickup truck hit her. Anyone with information about the hit-and-run is asked to call the Austin/Travis County Crimestoppers at 472-TIPS.
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Comments
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By Fawn
January 14, 2010 12:49 PM | Link to this
Pam, Please make sure you update me on details of the fundraisers as you get them. I would like to help. thanks
By carri
January 15, 2010 8:54 AM | Link to this
I hope Mariel’s condition is improving. I wish her and her family the best through such a terribly difficult time. Please keep us posted on ways to contribute.
By Tina
January 20, 2010 11:11 AM | Link to this
Any news on Mariel’s condition improving? Or leads on the person who did this to her? This is very sad and tragic. A similar thing happened to my husband, where a driver intentionally ran him off the road and took off. Luckily his injuries were not too severe. How can we get some drivers to change their attitudes and learn to share the road?
By Pam LeBlanc
January 20, 2010 11:17 AM | Link to this
Hi Tina, I just sent Christine, Mariel’s sister, an email to check on her progress. When I hear back, I’ll post something here. I’m sorry to hear about your husband. I think one way to lower the frequency of these incidents is to get the word out about incidents, get more cyclists on the road, and promote motorist awareness that cyclists are out there.
By Cristen
March 1, 2010 8:57 AM | Link to this
I am sure there have been public awareness articles about cyclists v. autos, but there still seems to be drivers out there who don’t understand the law on bike right-of-way.
I was riding out on Parmer lane north of 620 yesterday and stopped at a light in a car lane because there WAS NO SHOULDER, and a man in a truck behind me came up very close to behind me so much so that my friend riding with me couldn’t merge in to stop next to me, so she had to sit in a right turn lane to wait for the light (not a good place to be). When the light turned green, she tried to merge back in next to me, but he honked at her, so she got back over (scary!) and as I pulled off to go through the light, and then moved to the shoulder on the other side of the light, he honked at me, rolled his window down and SHOUTED something at me!
I’ve been riding out on Parmer for 3 years now and never experienced that, but I’m sure it is not the first driver to be annoyed but us cyclists. There are tons of cyclists out there at any given nice day, and the shoulders are wide and we hardly ever interfere with the autos, but at lights, YES, we need the car lanes to travel safely through…
Someone needs to highlight the TXDOT laws to people like the jerk in the big navy truck that yelled at me on my 90 lb bike…I hope he felt manly when he did that…
I’ve been reading Mariel’s caringbridge updates and hope and pray for her full recovery. The person who mowed her down in the dead of the night KNOWS what they did and should come forward and face the consequences. The other cyclist that was hurt badly last week in Cedar Park on 620 hopefully will also recover to ride again.