Kevin's Recovery Helping Kevin Mather on his road to recovery

Account from Steve Souisa

From Steve Souisa, via email:

I had put together a 55 mile ride scheduled for today, beginning at Peets coffee at 6:30am. The route was to go up Sierra Hwy and cut over to Soledad Canyon, once we got into acton. The guys who went on the ride were Vince Sabotin, Paul Hauck, Nigel Stout, Ryan House, Eric Swihart, Gabe Astorga, Pete Giamonco, Andy Barzack, Migel Soler, me and Kevin. At the last minute I recieved a text from Miguel that he was not going to join us. As we usually do, we warmed up on the bike path towards Sierra Hwy. Five miles into it, Andy decided to back out of the ride because he was going through some pain with his back and turned around and went home.

We all met at Sierra Hwy and started to go up the road. Vince and Kevin decided to put the legs in gear and get the workout started. Ryan, Nigel and Pete decided to get in tow with the ride as well. Paul and Nick were riding together further back, and I decided to hang in the rear with Gabe and Eric.

Paul and Nick decided to turn around to see why we were so far back and rejoined us at the rear. I was telling Paul, ” you know Kevin is throwing the bait out and we need to catch him.” Paul said okay, but I said I was going to hang with Eric and Gabe and help them get through this ride.

Normally, Paul and I would be pace lining with the front runners and challenging ourselves to be out in front with Kevin and Vince. This day was not like the others as we decided it was best to hang in the rear. I was telling Paul, “you know this road is pretty narrow and it doesn’t leave us to much room to ride together.” He decided to fall back in behind me, and we just started to ride with Nick. As we started to crest this hill, it started to level out, and we noticed a group of cars parked to the left side of the road.

I immediately started to panic as I saw one of our riders down. When I arrived, it was Kevin that was lying on the ground. Nigel was holding Kevin’s hand, and told me he just prayed for him. Kevin had a serious gash across his forehead, and his helmet was pretty much holding his scalp in place. I told Kevin that he was safe and we are all here. I said to Kevin, “Don’t leave us”…he said, “I’m right here.” Nigel asked me to pray with him and that’s what I did.

I kept thinking, had we chased Kevin down, there could have been more riders injured. The medics showed up around 7 minutes after I got there. In seconds, CHP, Sheriffs, and fire trucks were on the scene, as well as a helicopter.

The medics asked Kevin to move his toes, and he said he couldn’t. They asked him to move his feet, and he said he couldn’t. They then pressed on his thighs and asked him, “Do you feel this?” He didn’t feel anything….I lost it and tears were bursting out of my eyeballs.

His bike was severely damaged from the impact as well as his helmet. Water bottles, bike tools were scattered, and his watch was thrown across the dirt. The truck’s right side mirror was sitting right next to him. I told him the SOS is out and we contacted your family. He said “call Tiff and my Mom.” His injuries were pretty bad and he was airliftd out of the canyon and taken to USC Med Center.

I was pulled to the side by a man named John, who called 911, as he was the first one on the scene. He asked me, “I heard this is a church group you’re riding with. Does Kevin have salvation?” I said, “Yes he does,” and he broke down crying. I hugged him and asked him “why are you crying?” He said, I saw Kevin laying there, I’m a Christian and I didn’t ask him to receive salvation. I said he has salvation, and he said I know…but I didn’t do what I was supposed to do.

I hugged him and said Kevin is going to be all right, hang in there. The helicopter took off, and we all were standing there watching it go away. I felt at that point, that it was time for me to pray with everyone that was there.

Some didn’t feel like riding home and had someone pick them up, and others decided to ride back. I chose to ride back with Vince, Paul, Pete and another Ryan who showed up later at the time of the accident. It was a somber ride home, and I dont think anyone spoke to each other for 15 miles.