Sean C. Morgan
A Sweet Home motocross rider, who was injured in a crash three weeks ago, has moved to a hospital in Colorado, where he is hoping to regain use of his legs.
Nick Rietz broke his back, partially paralyzing him, in the motorcycle crash.
Rietz, 20, said he was injured at Albany Motorsports Park when he “came over a jump and didn’t quite make it.”
He doesn’t remember the crash, but he believes the bike flipped, pile driving him.
He has been at Samaritan Regional Medical Center since then, Rietz said. He is paralyzed from the waist down, but he has had some feeling in his toes.
As he was preparing to leave for Craig Hospital in Denver, Colo., Sunday morning, Oct. 13, he was optimistic.
Almost every patient going to Craig Hospital comes out walking at least with a cane, Rietz said. “Even if I don’t, I want to keep striving to walk like Gerritt is.”
He referred to Gerritt Schaffer, who similarly was paralyzed in a motorcycle crash. Rietz has known Schaffer since he was 7 or 8 years old, and he used to ride with Schaffer quite a bit.
“I’m just trying to have Gerritt’s attitude about this whole thing,” Rietz said.
Reitz said he is through all of his surgeries now. Now the focus is on rehabilitation.
“At Craig, their goal is to get me to walk,” Rietz said. ”
Rietz started riding ATVs at age 3, he said, and his parents bought him his first dirt bike at age 5.
Even if he regains use of his legs, Rietz said he’s decided to hang up his boots.
“I think the risk is not worth the reward any more,” he said, but he’ll still be at all the races, supporting his friends.
“I was doing what I loved,”
Rietz said. “Unfortunately, all this happened.”
Rietz is a 2017 graduate of Sweet Home High School. He works at Linn Gear in Lebanon.