Shayna Richardson's One and Only Post...Read It and Get Over It!!!!

[billvon 2,384]

>No, try reading lessons.

>your ignorance must be blissful!

Ron, Dog, enough already.

[NelKel 0]

I PM'ed all the moderator's to lock it cause YOU are makeing the skydiving community look like a bunch of insunificant little bitches. If you want to argue about insurance, or driving start your own thread, but hijacking this one for your own pleasure makes you a troll.

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Someone dies, someone says how stupid, someone says it was avoidable, someone says how to avoid it, someone calls them an idiot, someone proposes rule chan

[VisionAir 0]

If this is about to be locked please let it be done with a repost of this.

Someone asked "How can I help her out?"

If you would like to contribute call (417)-672-2572 or write:
Bank of Ash Grove
Shayna Richardson Medical Fund
Highway 160
Ash Grove, MO 65604

Huh?!? What cloud?!? Oh that!!! That's just Industrial Haze
Alex M.

[kryos 0]

I have long been lurking this board, though not posting in quite a while. But this thread forced me to break my silence, despite the fact that I will probably get flamed to all get out.

I too suffered a skydiving injury. At close to 100 jumps, I botched a landing badly, breaking both femurs. This happened in 1999. Though I was only grounded for one year, I made the decision not to jump anymore due to my poor apptitude for the sport.

I ran up a lot of medical bills too ... over $60,000 worth for surgery, close to a month of in-patient hospitalization, a $10,000 lear jet ride to get me home from Florida (where my accident occurred), over six months of physical therapy ... the list goes on and on.

The difference between myself and this lady is that I had medical insurance to cover most of those bills ... even the lear jet was picked up by my insurance carrier because they wanted to get me back into their provider network.

Skydiving is a sport that is all about personal responsibility. You make your jumps and you take responsibility for them. There are no guarantees for your safety ... even if you make no mistakes whatsoever (highly unlikely for someone with low jump numbers). If something does go wrong, and you are injured, then my feeling is that you take your lumps and move past them.

I feel that Shayna has no medical insurance to pick up her bills, but surely she knew that before she boarded that aircraft for her first jump? I could not imagine jumping with the knowledge that if I were to be injured ... even in a relatively minor sort of way ... that my family or the state or whoever would be stuck holding the bag to pay my medical bills. Nor would I expect the general public to pity me and send me contributions because I busted myself up doing something that I wanted to do ... something that most people wouldn't consider themselves "stupid" enough to try.

I am disappointed that Shayna has chosen to go public with her needs. I am disappointed that she left Medicaid to pay her bills because she didn't have enough of a sense of financial responsbility to either provide insurance for herself, or refrain from indulging in high risk pursuits. Of course, people will say that medical insurance is expensive and maybe she didn't have the money for it. Well, fine ... skydiving is expensive too ... especially for a student progression. But obviously she had the money for that, right?

And now she is willing to parade herself before the media ... letting people think that this poor woman somehow incurred all these bills because of an "unexpected" accident she suffered while skydiving? No accident in skydiving is unexpected ... unless the participant is a total fool.

And, what's with the teeth deal? She needs expensive implants? What's wrong with dentures? A lot cheaper than implants and certainly an acceptable solution. After all, millions of senior citizens eat damned good with a mouthful of dentures. What? They aren't good enough of Shayna?

Finally, as to Medicaid getting stuck picking up her medical bills ... don't think they will just pick them up without a fight. They're gonna look around to see if there are any sources to which they can subrogate some of the costs. I'm not aware of where Shayna was jumping when she suffered this accident, but if it was at a large dz here in the U.S., I would imagine that dz is gonna get "asked" to make a substantial contribution to those medical bills as well. Maybe that's why Shayna's instructor was just sitting by as she blithly gave her interview to the media. Maybe the dz that employs him required it.

So ... sadly, I have no pity whatsoever for this woman's plight with her medical bills. I am certainly sorry she was hurt and I wish her nothing but the best for her ongoing recovery, but frankly I am embarrassed by her behavior in bringing her "case" to the public in the hopes of elicting contributions to cover the cost of her medical and other care.

This, too, will be my only post on the subject.

Blue skies ...

--rita
aka "Faceplant"

[Liemberg 0]

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should she, or you, expect the skydiving community to welcome her with open arms, or donate any money, if she "doesn't give a rats ass" about the community in the first place?

If I were faced with that sort of hard choices like she apparently is, I would also be forced to look at 'the mathematics of the situation'.
IMO they dictate that she'll be better off with an average of $0,002 from every non skydiver than with $ 2,00 from every skydiver.

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BabyBlues: Like I said up top...you can choose to hear the truth or not...I haven't made a cent from any of this. I have nearly $200,000 in medical bills plus nearly $25,000 to get my teeth back.
I simply wanted to ask America for help.

Sounds to me she's asking the whuffo's, not the skydivers. Is there a law against that? Especially since she tries to do that in such a way as to NOT hurt the sport. AFAIK (havn't seen all the footage nor read all the articles) she said she made a mistake, this was a freak accident and skydiving is so amazing that despite what happened she wants to jump again. If you compare her with Lutz or a whole bunch of other students that got hurt and went*) on TV with their story, she's halfway to sainthood...
*) and of course it is true that you can choose to talk to the media or be silent. However, governments and big companies have a whole bunch of paid professionals to help them with questions like 'say something / say nothing / what to say / what not to say' and even then the press proves to be extremly hard to "control". So what do you all expect from a 21 year old amateur in the middle of all this?

"Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci
A thousand words...

[skybytch 259]

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If you want to argue about insurance, or driving start your own thread, but hijacking this one for your own pleasure makes you a troll.

Welcome to internet forums. Trying to tell people what and where they can post is like trying to tell a baby to stop crapping in it's diaper.

You're entitled to your opinion. Others are entitled to theirs. Until Sangiro decides otherwise, we can all post our opinions in whatever thread we would like.

Don't like what or where someone is posting? Don't read it.

[Ron 7]

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I PM'ed all the moderator's to lock it cause YOU are makeing the skydiving community look like a bunch of insunificant little bitches

And you make it look good with your complaining? Your posts are pure noise while the rest of us are discussing the issues.

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If you want to argue about insurance, or driving start your own thread, but hijacking this one for your own pleasure makes you a troll.

Nice attack. But not even close to reality. Not having insurance is THE reason this post is here. If she had insurance then there would be no outrage at her demanding people help her.

And like I have said before...You don't have to read any of this if it bothers you.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[Genn 0]

Hi Shayna
I could only imagine what you are going through physically and emotionally. As a young woman, this must be a very tough and overwhelming time for you. Just try to keep your head up and keep on truckin'. Easier said than done, I'm sure. But remember, this too shall pass- and life goes on.

Re: Medical debt.

You should be able to qualify for Medicaid if:

-You have high medical bills
-You meet certain income, resource, age, or disability requirements.

Also, being a pregnant mother should help speed up the process. So, if you haven't done it by now- get that application in asap.

After all, Medicaid is a program for people who can't afford to pay for medical care.

Re: Reconstructive surgery

I too, have had reconstructive surgery after a car accident in 1997. The air bag crushed my nose. Since the accident, it continues to break/crack with very little force (blowing my nose can do it if I'm not careful). The doctor said it was like an eggshell. He concluded that rhinoplasty would be too dangerous and I had two options. Metal implant or live with it.

He explained that any major force/trauma to my face could have deadly potential with a metal implant. Given my activities, I chose to live with it.

My point- If you do decide to continue jumping, be extremely aware of the risk of jumping with metal in your face. There may not be any more options available upon reinjury. Discuss it with your doctor.

As you probably know by now, you are a very lucky and fortunate young woman. You survived, your pregnant, and people from around the globe have shown interest and generosity in you and your unborn child.

I wish you and your child the best of luck, Shayna.

And thanks for sharing your story.

[azureriders 0]

Ok, I have not seen any of the TV coverage and I have not been following this thread, I just opened it and read the first page of posts and could not believe my eyes. Is this what was meant when I was told that skydiving was a big huge FAMILY????????

Where I come from family sticks together and helps the one in need wheather or not he/she screwed up. It dont matter what happened, just that they need help.

In my community we are always having a fund raiser for one person or another. Most of the time it is because some one has been hurt or killed and had no insurance. Like it or not it does happen, so we pull together and help these people out.

If I pass you walking on the road rolling a tire, should I pick you up and take you to the tire station, or should I pass you by and say thats what you get for driving with out a spare?

And as for asking for help, she should not have to. If the skydiving community is really a FAMILY, then they would band together and help this woman out without her asking.

Shayna, I dont know if you are following this thread, but if you are (or anyone else that has the info) send me an email with the details on donations. We can not do much but would be glad to do OUR part.

I am very new to this sport and the candor on this site is strongly against newbies giving advice or making bold statements, and in general I agree with this unwritten policy, but in this case, if you dont like my opinion, then bite me.

[slotperfect 7]

Take the time to read the thread. The info you are looking for is there, and you may end up with more information that will broaden your understanding of this very complex issue.

Arrive Safely

John

[azureriders 0]

Thanks John,

I will look for the info. As for the rest of the complexities, let no one here believe that I am supporting this girls actions, hell post on what she did wrong in a way to keep her, or more importantly ME, from making the same mistakes, but let's not bash her when she's down when we could be helping.

[airtwardo 6]

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Is this what was meant when I was told that skydiving was a big huge FAMILY????????

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It's called "Tough Love"


If the 'family' feels that you're doing something detrimental to yourself, the sport, or the family as a whole...then they tend to chime in and let ya know about it.

Stay in the sport long enough and it happens to most everyone at one time or another.

~One rule of thumb I always try to keep in mind...

If one person tells you you've fucked up and no one else does, that person might be just an 'asshole'...

But if 20 people tell ya you've fucked up..."you're" most likely the asshole.

It's happened to me plenty of times!

It's how we as a family keep ourselves in check....it's all good!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[micro 0]

well said man, well said.

I miss Lee.
And JP.
And Chris. And...

[diablopilot 2]

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Shayna wasn't focusing on all the MIGHT HAPPENs. that's why i'm trying to understand posters' rage -- how many of us actually live our life like that?

[raises hand]

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[azureriders 0]

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It's called "Tough Love"

point very well taken.

Please understand that I am not supporting this girls actions even in the least little bit. She screwed up, so now she needs help. This help may be in the form of tough love as you put it, faceing her with the fact that she screwed up. Maybe she should not even be allowed to jump agian because of her unsafe actions. This, thankfuly, is not my place to decide. I am behind all of you in the safety of skydiving side of this thing.

On the other side, the financial side. There is no tough love that is going to help this. It has been pointed out that like so many others in this sport, she jumped without insurance. You may slap a family memeber in the face with their screw up to try and HELP them, but you do not throw them to the side and forget about them. Telling her she should have to go through life with no teeth, come on people, that is just not the family thing to do.

On one side that requires the experience of many hours, years, dollars, jumps, and heart aches dedicated to this sport, I will sit back in my dark corner and admire those of you that have the prerequisites to give this girl the "tough love" that she obviously needs. On the other side, I refuse to sit slothfully by and allow my FAMILY morals to be bent by not speaking my mind.

To those of you who aggree that I have the right to voice such an opionion, weather you agree with it or not, I thank you. To those that agree with me, it is good to know that I am not alone. Yet to some others I must stick to my original post, bite me.

[diablopilot 2]

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It's called "Tough Love"

Need to remind people where "Slack Valley" is.

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[skybytch 259]

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Please understand that I am not supporting this girls actions even in the least little bit. She screwed up, so now she needs help.

On the other side, the financial side. There is no tough love that is going to help this. It has been pointed out that like so many others in this sport, she jumped without insurance. You may slap a family memeber in the face with their screw up to try and HELP them, but you do not throw them to the side and forget about them. Telling her she should have to go through life with no teeth, come on people, that is just not the family thing to do.

Can't have it both ways. Either she's taking responsibility for her own decisions and actions or she's not. Paying the bills when shit happens to you is taking responsibility for your own decisions and actions. Asking others to do so for you is not.

Unless someone forced her to jump out of that plane, it was her choice to skydive. Those who choose to skydive need to understand that they can do everything right and still end up in the same situation she is in and they need to be responsible for themselves when shit happens to them.

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On the other side, I refuse to sit slothfully by and allow my FAMILY morals to be bent by not speaking my mind.

And others of us refuse to sit by and allow the concept of personal responsibility - a concept that is and has been a big part of the sport of skydiving since long before I first jumped out of a plane - to be bent by not speaking our minds.

Feel free to organize a fundraiser for her. I've already questioned why this wasn't done long before she appeared on national TV and no one seems to be able to answer me....

[azureriders 0]

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Feel free to organize a fundraiser for her. I've already questioned why this wasn't done long before she appeared on national TV and no one seems to be able to answer me....

We obviously are both comeing from the same direction more than either of us may think. I dont think she should be able to DEMAND others pay her bills, but ASKING for help is an entirely different thing. She must have said something on TV that got under your skin, something that I did not see. I dont say that any of us should have to pat her on the back, but leaving her out to dry is not cool either. If you think some one should organize a fund raiser for her, then you obviously see my point. Once again I am not supporting any of her actions.

[chadkal 0]

the answer is ,.....................she turned her back on her "family" (the skydiving comunity) so that she could demand the public pays her. That is what people here are upset about. she doesn't want help, She wants a free ride with all the handouts.

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I am a greek midget

[pilotdave 0]

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she turned her back on her "family" (the skydiving comunity) so that she could demand the public pays her.

I'm sorry, but WTF???

This story gets blown farther and farther out of proportion with every page of this thread. It is now officially ridiculous (I'm a certified ridiculousness official).

Really, these comments are getting insane.

Dave

[chadkal 0]

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she turned her back on her "family" (the skydiving comunity) so that she could demand the public pays her.

I'm sorry, but WTF???

This story gets blown farther and farther out of proportion with every page of this thread. It is now officially ridiculous (I'm a certified ridiculousness official).

really????????????????
what part of this has been blown out of proportion,
were you there when it happened?
do you know what has happened or the things that have been said?

Really, these comments are getting insane.

Dave

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I am a greek midget

[FallingAngel 0]

Dave, I'm not necessarily responding to you, but to the thread in general...

Do I agree with what Shanya is doing? No, not really. But I'm looking at this from 1,000 jumps vs her 10 or so.

I also don't know all the details of what happened. No one seems to know too much or want to clarify anything, and everyone seems so emotional over this. But to me, the situation appears shady...

Take responsibility for your fuck up, especially if people warned you not to do it...And, as a student, how was she supposed to know that what she's doing is deemed to be giving skydiving a bad name (unless people told her this before she talked to the media)? Her boyfriend should have known that though, but who knows? Perhaps he encouraged her not to do what she's doing and she decided to do it anyway.

I don't think the skydiving community is as heartless as some people seem to think this thread makes it sound. I've only been jumping about 6 years, but have grown up around skydiving because of my dad...My opinion is, something it seems like the "older" skydivers are saying is that as a family, we prefer to take care of things ourselves and help out our family. This is mostly because people who don't skydive, don't seem to understand what we do and why we do it. They see it as a dangerous activity, which it is, but at the same time, just don't understand the joy it can bring and the reasons behind how an accident can happen. But, also because we really are a great family, that, like any family, can have its disfunctions, and so that doesn't mean that the family as a whole automatically turns its back on someone when something like this happens for the first time (clarifing: this is the first time Shayna had an "accident"). Skydivers weren't opposed to helping her (is the impression I'm getting), where newer jumpers are getting the impression that we're "heartless" is after Shayna, for whatever reason which is undisclosed but perhaps for $$ reasons? (apparently) rejected the skydiving community's help in favor of going to the media, and then this is when she started getting the strong negative reaction that she's getting.


And, another thought that comes to my mind is:

If at first you don't succeed, maybe skydiving isn't for you...

That's great she'd like to do it again once she's recovered but, it appears she had two landable canopies yet still managed to get seriously hurt...AND, she says she had great insturction!

At her size, if she was jumping a Sabre2 190, I don't think that was a problem...At what she was loading it (probably .8/1??), that should have been fine. Side story, when I was a student at maybe 110 lbs without gear, I was on a Manta(I believe it was a manta)230...I must have caught a nice thermal and chilled at 1,000 feet until after the next load landed!!! That was just a bit silly...Anywho, I guess I'm the one 1,000 jumps later with (knock on wood) no serious injuries jumping a Katana 97, so perhaps that was the better way to go.

[Ragnarok 0]

I read it, and I honestly have been out of that loop. I do not see where Shayna was trying to use her accident for monetary gain. I saw the vid of her interview - I hope I could be that positive and objective if I was in the same curcumstance.

I jumped at Freefall Express this past Friday. I was impressed with the place. Small dropzone, but the people there are awesome! The owner re-packed my reserve for me. I got 3 jumps in. We jumped from a Cessna at 10k. I would not hesitate to refer anyone there for a skydive. I will return, if nothing more to get a few jumps from the cessna again. I learned so much, made a few mistakes, funneled the 3 and 4 way I went on - I would jump with those guys anyday.

Shayna, your attitude and outloook is incredible. You are a Skydiver, and nobody can tell you different.

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Twin Otter N203-Echo,29 July 2006
Cessna P206 N2537X, 19 April 2008
Blue Skies Forever

[pilotdave 0]

Alright, let me clarify my "issues" with so many of the posts in this thread (in no particular order). And these aren't direct quotes, just ideas I've seen presented over and over.

"she demanded blah blah blah"

She didn't demand anything. She'd like help with her medical expenses.

"she didn't take responsibility for her accident"

She hasn't blamed anyone but herself for the accident. She's not suing anybody (AFAIK). She'd like help with her medical expenses.

"she gave the sport a black eye"

Skydiving was born with a black eye. Everybody knows it's dangerous. It wouldn't be a big deal if it wasn't dangerous. On the other hand, she explained repeatedly how wonderful skydiving is. I think she was a pretty damn good spokesperson for the sport, at least as far as injured students can go.

"she turned her back on the skydiving community"

can we be a little more overdramatic?

"she wants a free ride with all the handouts" (that one is a direct quote)

Again, i'd agree with that if she'd sued the DZ and rigger and all the equipment manufacturers for $20 million. She didn't. She'd like help with her medical expenses.

"she shouldn't have gone skydiving without medical insurance" posted by people that have skydived without medical insurance.

I don't disagree with them. Skydiving or skiing or driving or walking across the street without medical insurance is asking for trouble. But somehow it was ok for all those other people to do it because they accepted that they might get hurt. Same people that are pissed she made skydiving look dangerous on national TV. Again, had she sued everybody in sight to pay her medical bills, I'd agree that all those others were different from her. In reality, she's asked for help (and not particularly blatantly at that... watch her interviews, she doesn't freaking beg).

"she should have come to the skydiving community first"

Why? She said she has over $200K in medical bills, right? How much money could skydivers come up with? This is a thread full of people saying they wouldn't have donated anyway. Her chances of getting anything are a lot better from the public.

"she had 2 landable canopies"

I'm only getting my info from these threads and the news articles. I've seen zero evidence that suggests her reserve was landable. Did I miss it? All these people with 1000+ jumps believe that they could have gotten that reserve under control and landed it. How do any of them know? That reserve was in a nasty spin for undetermined reasons. Did she do all that could be done? Did she do all that a typical or even a sub-par AFF student could have known to do?

"she wasn't properly trained"

She obviously didn't do everything right, but what direct evidence is there that she wasn't properly trained? The fact she had an accident? Some comments she made while under the pressure of live TV?


So people are PISSED at her. I just don't understand why. Why is this such an emotional topic? The accident really did happen. She had a spinning reserve malfunction and hit the ground very hard. Should we keep that a secret? Should we tell prospective students skydiving is safe?

People are jumping on tiny comments and reading into them way too much. I just fail to understand why this is bringing out so much emotion. I guess the SkyRide thread got too slow. Those fuckers sued our national organization recognized by the FAA as our governing body for tens of millions of dollars. They could do more damage to this sport than damn near anyone, especially Shayna. Calm down and focus on something meaningful.

Dave

[chadkal 0]

I sorry, but I do not see myself as being overdramatic,..................I was there, I witnessed the accident. I knew, the sircumstances of her jump and her boyfriend/instructor. She was improperly trained, and was warned, and then turned her back on the people who tried to help her.

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I am a greek midget