David Pilon: Six months later still having to fight

Harness racing driver David Pilon is a fighter. His friends will tell you. Six months after the sad accident of June 6 at the Hippodrome 3R, David is better, a little better. Morale holds up, even if, as he candidly admits, some days are more difficult to live, especially when bad news comes into his life.

Reached on the phone at the beginning of the week, he kindly told us how his long, very long convalescence and the delay in the prognosis at the time of the accident was going.

Progress

“I was operated on by an orthopedist in the hours following the now famous accident on June 6. The doctor had told me at that time of the complexity of the operation, or should I say, of the operations that would follow to allow me to walk again in an almost normal way. I relied on him, of course; Do we really have a choice in a situation like mine? »

“I was literally nailed to a couch for over two months. Believe me, it’s very long, for a guy who, like me, has always moved a lot, worked too. Two months of doing nothing worthwhile, impossible even to get up from this couch. It was painful, no one doubts it.

“Finally, I had the ok to start my rehabilitation. First, get up, try to tarnish myself on my two legs, then slowly, with help try to walk, put one foot in front of the other. It’s like a child learning to walk. It is difficult. At that time, I was undergoing physiotherapy and occupational therapy treatments.

“As exercises of all kinds progressed, I always felt pain in one foot. I was saying it, but I was told, probably with good reason, that it was normal. We had rebuilt my foot, my leg. But the pain did not weaken. New X-ray tests: nothing was found, and the pain was still there. Finally, it was a scan that detected the origin of this pain: we discover multiple small ‘chips’ fractures that will have to be removed and therefore re-operated!”

October 6

“Exactly four months after the accident, I’m back on the operating table. These bone fragments are removed and here I am again confined to the couch. Then it’s a new beginning of physio, ergo, three hours in each session, three times a week! And progress is slow, but this time there is no added pain. I am told that I could start walking almost as before, in a year, a year and a half!

“I’m not talking about the 14 screws, metal rods, steel cables that were installed in my foot and in my legs. And no more, thromboses (clots form when the leg is too long motionless). That’s a lot of suffering.  And uncertainties!  With two young children I share custody of, including one who is 2 years old, it’s not easy.

“There, it’s better. I start to stand. I can drive my car, and I take the opportunity to visit friends, even go to Francis’ stable (Richard), see my world, get bored, pass the time. I can’t go crazy with the $275 that Standardbred Canada insurance provides me. But hey, at least there is progress, and it helps me keep my spirits up. It matters a lot of morale!”

Healing wishes

David is a brave guy trying to get by. It is known, when such a disaster occurs, many people surround you and support you. But time often exhausts goodwill and people return to their daily routine. The wounded feel more alone, abandoned and it’s in these moments that a little word, a phone call, can make a difference.

On behalf of everyone in the industry, David, we wish you a complete recovery and morale to face all that tomorrow holds. Good luck!

by Daniel Delisle, for the Quebec Jockey Club