Just back from the hospital and have an update on
yesterday’s note about Joey B. The good news is
that Stephan LeGrand has the website up:
http://www.helpjoeb.com/
LeBig says that the WFMX folks went above and
beyond the call of duty and donated $5,000 to the
cause. Seems like everyone wants to see Joe
back trackside in his hot pants where he belongs!

The bad news is that I couldn’t bail him out today
as scheduled. He had a bad reaction to some
antibiotics and they needed to keep him for at
least another day of observation and to do more
blood work. Dagnabbit!
He was feeling pretty poorly and asked me to
thank everyone for the love, but he really isn’t
up to having visitors or speaking with anyone
just yet.

Anyone who has ever met our international
ambassador of motocross and all around
“bon vivant” knows how bad it must be if
Bonnello doesn’t want to talk!

If you missed the message boards and
“Le Blog” from LeBig, here is the
sad story in a nutshell:
Originally Joe had a couple vertebrae
in his neck fused… it was an old injury and
fairly routine surgery… not that there is anything
routine about spinal surgery as Joe unfortunately
found out. Then when he was shooting the X Games
in San Diego, apparently a screw backed out of
the cage holding his neck together, punched a
bunch of holes in his esophogus on the way down
before lodging in his chest cavity. We all knew
Joe had a screw loose, but this was serious.
He drove himself from San Diego to the aptly named
St. Joseph’s Hospital for immediate surgery,
but by that time every single internal hole
was infected and swelling shut. So they opened his
throat, fused a couple more vertebrae, put in
drip tubes and a tracheal breather tube and
punched a hole into his chest to get the screw out.
He couldn’t swallow or even have a sip of water
for six weeks… but it finally looked like he
had turned the corner and he checked out of the
hospital last week on Monday. Unfortunately he
was back in ICU by Friday with another infection.
Thanks to his French compatriots Philippe Danh
from Frog Specialties and Stephan LeGrand and
for industry folks like Don Emde and Greg Primm
immediately stepping up to the plate, but Joe is
going to need all the help he can get. Look
for the “Help Us Help Joe!” stickers and T-shirts
in the pits at Glen Helen or go to the website
and sign the guest book for Joe.