Mishap in the Desert
The side of my face pressed into the sand. I was on my back pinned underneath an ATV in the middle of the desert in Namibia. My shoulder hurt. My back hurt. I struggled to breathe. What happened? How badly was I injured? How close was medical help?
Next Stop: Namibia
This year I have the honor of serving as the International Chair of Chief Executives Organization (CEO). In that role my wife, Louise, and I are attending 22 major events in 21 countries. In the first five months we’d already been to India, the Middle East, Philadelphia, Arizona, Colombia, Southeast Asia, and South Africa. We were having a great time, and all was going smoothly.
In March 2024 we were getting ready to embark on our next adventure— a safari in Namibia—when I said to CEO’s President & CEO, Jennifer Lehmann Weng, “Everything is going almost too well. Something is bound to go wrong sooner or later.” I never thought that two days later what would go wrong was me.
The Accident
On our first morning in Namibia, a few of us went out to ride 4x4s in the desert. We raced up the side of a sand dune and back down, again and again. The sun beamed down and sand flew everywhere. We were the only humans for miles. We were having a blast!
I raced up a sand dune, but this time as I approached the top, the wheels started spinning in the sand and I lost momentum. In what felt like slow motion, my ATV rolled over down the hill, dumping me off and pinning me underneath.
The other riders jumped off their 4x4s and managed to roll the 1500-pound vehicle off me. Our group’s guide quickly determined that my right shoulder was in bad shape. They loaded me on the back of his ATV and drove me through the desert to base camp. Then two of our other local guides drove me to the nearest medical clinic.
At the clinic they took x-rays and discovered that I’d snapped the ligaments in my right shoulder, including the A-C joint, the main ligament that attaches the shoulder to the collar bone. I also had three broken and displaced ribs in my upper back. The doctor prescribed pain medication and sent me to a nearby physical therapist who wrapped my shoulder and put my arm in a sling. Between the shock and the pain meds, I wasn’t suffering too badly at this point. I didn’t even really think about the physical pain. All I could think of was the travel we had planned for the next seven months—and how much of it was now down the drain.
A Network of Help
Unbeknownst to me, a network of resources had been activated on my behalf around the world. Between the CEO team, SOS International, and Healthnetwork Foundation, I was in very good hands.
Navigating multiple countries, permits, and flight authorizations, they managed to get Louise and me on a flight the next morning out of Windhoek, Namibia’s capital. Following a five hour drive through the desert, we boarded a flight to Cape Town. We were met upon arrival, taken through customs and security, and given the final two seats on a 16-hour flight back to New York.
While in the air, I received a message from Healthnetwork that they had arranged an appointment for me with Dr. David Altchek at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. I later learned that Dr. Altchek is considered one of the best and most in-demand orthopedic doctors and shoulder specialists in the country. How Healthnetwork managed to get me such a quick appointment, I really don’t know.
Shortly after our plane landed I received a call from Dr. Altchek’s physician assistant who told me I had an MRI appointment first thing the next morning and would see Dr. Altchek the following day. Not knowing the full extent of my injuries, time was of the essence. If we acted quickly and it was necessary, they could use live tissue to reconnect broken bones and torn ligaments for a better outcome.
Good News!
Considering the force of the trauma, Dr. Altchek said he would have expected to see broken shoulder bones, a torn rotator cuff, and nerve damage. But I was fortunate to have none of those. To my surprise and great relief, he recommended I not have surgery. Instead, he said with five months of diligent physical therapy, I should recover 90 percent of my shoulder’s function.
“What should I do about all this travel coming up?” I asked Dr. Altchek. “Go!” he said. “You’re not going to make it worse.” Four days later Louise and I were on a flight to a CEO event in Charleston, South Carolina, and shortly after that we left for 18 days in Australia.
A Lucky Man
After hearing stories of other 4x4 accidents, I realized how lucky I was that I was not more severely injured or killed. And even though I was in one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, I was in good hands the whole way. I’ve known for a long time that Healthnetwork is an incredible resource. It is why I have supported them for many years. But this experience took it to another level.