After a man was left in a coma, his family is speaking out to raise awareness about bicycle safety
On June 14 at roughly 3 p.m., Phil Morey and an unknown cyclist collided on a sidewalk in front of Morey's house.
"My brother-in-law had been outside building shelves for their new home - they just moved back from the United States - and he was taking a break. He was meeting my sister at Willow Point Park to watch a ball game, so he walked down his driveway and stepped onto a sidewalk and was hit by a cyclist coming down on the sidewalk," said Kristi Stormo, whose sister Kari Fredheim is married to Morey.
Stormo says the cyclist was a young male, most likely in his late teens. The cyclist flagged down a car. The car's driver, a woman, kept Morey calm and called an ambulance for the two. The cyclist was released, but Morey was flown down to Victoria for surgery.
"He had part of his right frontal lobe removed and is in a coma. It's been like that for the last 10 days. My sister is down there with him," said Stormo."There's been an overwhelming show of support. They started a GoFundMe page for Phil."
In addition to having the right side of his frontal lobe removed, Morey's orbital bone and nose are broken. He also has an infection in his lungs.
"As my sister says, we just want him to come back, but we just don't know how he's going to come back," said Stormo.
According to Stormo, Morey and Fredheim had just moved back to Campbell River from the United States to start a new life. The two met in high school but went their separate ways until around nine years ago when they reconnected. They have been married for five years now and have two children each from previous marriages.
They decided to move back to Campbell River after some talks and events happening in the United States, so they bought their house on Alder Street across from Stormo. Morey even got his old job at a Sherwin-Williams paint store.
Doctors will not speculate at all when Morey could wake up, Stormo says.
"(It's) because they can't. It's a guessing game. No two brain injuries are the same at all. They just have him in a deep-induced coma. He hasn't woken up on his own at all, but now they have put him even deeper so that his brain heals because there has been worse swelling."
Stormo says she reached out to the media to raise awareness for bike safety.
"Ride on the road," she said. "It's really simple. It's biking 101. When you are young, you are taught to ride on the road facing traffic and get off your bike when you are on a crosswalk. That's just what five-year-olds should know."
Stormo said the cyclist wasn't wearing a helmet either.
"Nobody wants anything to happen to him because he's a young man, and nobody wants to wreck two lives. That's not what's happening here. What's happening is he should be aware of what's happened and what's going on with Phil."
Stormo said the young cyclist has yet to reach out to her sister, as far as she knows.
"My sister is down in Victoria hoping her husband comes back, and if he does, how is he going to come back? Is he going to know her?"
