Rifle extreme skier Bobby Layman is coming up on a three-year anniversary. On Dec. 23, 2003, Bobby was skiing his last run of the day at Snowmass. That's when he sailed off a tabletop jump, did a 360, over-rotated and landed hard - really hard - on his head and chest.

Even though Bobby was wearing a helmet, he suffered a severe, traumatic brain injury. He would have died if he hadn't been wearing his helmet.

Bobby had a rough go. His heart stopped right on the mountain. He was read last rites in the emergency room. He was air lifted to a Denver hospital. He was in a coma for four months. His road back has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. Today, he doesn't remember the crash, or the year following it.

Slowly, he relearned to breathe, eat, walk and talk, even though doctors told his family that Bobby might never walk or talk again.

Now, three years later, Bobby's doing a lot more than walking and talking. He graduated with his class this past spring at Rifle High. He's taking classes at Colorado Mountain College, and is planning to go on to a university to earn a bachelor's in public speaking and resort management.

And he's become a motivational speaker. He talks at schools and at brain injury conferences about extreme sports and wearing helmets.

"Whatever your passion is, do it," he tells audiences, "but take it down a notch. Do it like there is a tomorrow."

I recently spent some time with Bobby, and wrote about him for the cover story in this past week's Rifle Citizen Telegram newspaper, where I'm the editor. I watched him as he helped give away ski and snowboard helmets to children at the Grand River Medical Center in Rifle. He's impressive, to say the least.

Bobby's story hit home for me, because also I'm coming up on an anniversary. It was 20 years ago on Dec. 16 that I was skiing my last run of the day on Aspen Mountain. I swerved to avoid a skier coming out of the trees and hit a group of aspen trees - hard. I fractured my pelvis, broke my ear drum and suffered a severe concussion. I don't remember the crash, and have spotty memories of the time after it.

My wreck was nothing compared to Bobby's, but I wasn't wearing a helmet. In 1986, the only skiers wearing helmets were downhillers. Nowadays, helmets are standard equipment. Bobby says he feels naked without a helmet, like driving feels without a safety belt.

I know people sometimes scoff at how overprotected we are in today's society. When I was growing up, we never wore helmets bike riding or skiing. But now that we've got the technology and the knowledge, it's pretty much of a no-brainer to wear a brain bucket when doing sports that put your body at risk.

Bobby is here today because he knew enough to wear a helmet. I'm here today because I'm lucky that I didn't hit those trees harder than I did. Both Bobby and I still love to ski. Our crashes haven't made us stop. But you can bet we ski "like there is a tomorrow," as Bobby says. And we're the ones you see wearing our helmets as we crank turns down the mountain.



Carrie Click is the editor and general manager of The Citizen Telegram. Read Bobby Layman's cover story online by visiting citizentelegram.com. You can reach Carrie at 625-3245, ext. 16670, cclick@citizentelegram.com.





Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, Colorado, CO