A FATHER of seven is now stricken on a hospital bed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation GPHC) after falling off his bicycle and suffering a fractured neck, among other injuries.Shortly after a downpour last Friday, Walter Douglas, 65, of Lancaster, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara was taking his six-year-old son Danny Douglas to nursery school when tragedy struck.
Douglas, who now has difficulty speaking, recalled that he had reached the school and was riding off a concrete strip onto the lawns when the front wheel of the cycle fell into a pothole that was covered with water.
The injured man said that because of the water, he did not know that a hole was there until he had already ridden into it.
The front wheel plunged into the hole and then the rear wheel pitched into the air, throwing both father and son to the ground. Fortunately water did not get into their nostrils.
However the elder Douglas suffered a severe blow to the head, neck and back of his shoulders. He managed to get up, but as he began to suffer severe pains, he was helped to a bus and taken home. As the pains intensified, he was later taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where he was admitted and had scans done.
The scans determined that he had suffered a fractured neck and trauma to the head and back.
Meanwhile, six-year-old Danny suffered minor bruises and was treated and sent home.

By Shirley Thomas