Editor, The Gazette:

As a member of the Grand Forks Cycling Club, along with many others, I spend a lot of time on our local roads feeding my cycling addiction. You have most likely seen us either as individuals or in groups dressed in our distinctive yellow and black cycling jerseys. Last Wednesday, July 7, I was out on the road trying out my newly repaired knee when I came across club President Frank Phipps. We decided to spin up the North Fork together. On the way back I became annoyed when a hornet stung me. I felt it hit me three times before I was able to knock it off my arm. While the local drivers treat us well on the roads, apparently the hornets, bugs and bears haven’t received the memo to be nice to us. I have been stung many times, while on the bike, and it has never been anything more than an inconvenience. This time the experience was to develop into much more. About five minutes after I was stung I noticed things were becoming a bit fuzzy. I checked my heart rate monitor and saw my heart rate was climbing. I told Frank I needed to slow down because my heart rate had hit 193 on a very easy section of the road. I then told him I had to stop when I saw it hit 211, and as I got off my bike to lie on the ground at Niagara town site, I saw 213. This all happened in a space of two minutes.

I realized I was having a reaction to the sting so I asked Frank to see if any of the houses nearby had an antihistamine. I began to lose track of things visually but I do remember hearing a vehicle slow down quickly, followed by the whine of a reverse gear. The next thing I knew I was flopping around like a rag doll as people shoveled me into the front seat of a vehicle. I remember the sounds of a fast moving vehicle and before I knew it I was at the hospital being attended to by an army of people. About five hours later, like magic, I was on my way home with my wife feeling just fine.

As it turns out my driving hero was Barry Brandow (Jr). I call him a hero because he chose to stop and help when it would have been much easier to just pass on by. He made a huge effort to get me to the hospital in a minimal amount of time, which may have just saved my life. I was told I was very grey in colour when I arrived and certainly needed the treatment I received. The staff at the hospital was excellent, forming a swarm of their own around me while I received treatment. The medical outcome of this episode is that I now need to drag an Epi-pen injector around with me everywhere I go, but it is a small price to pay to prevent a future reaction. The bigger outcome is the restoration of my faith in people. My good friend Frank Phipps handled himself admirably in a very surprising, scary and quickly changing situation. Thanks Frank! Barry Brandow, who I knew as a student at GFSS many years ago, should be proud of himself for doing the right thing at the right time. He is a hero whether he believes it or not. On behalf of my wife, our club, and myself I would to thank him very much for his timely help.