Ironwoman: Springfield athlete recovering from triathlon bike wreck

A Springfield woman is home and recovering after sustaining a traumatic brain injury while competing in a triathlon in Colorado on June 11. The race was the annual Ironman 70.3 Boulder (1.2-mile swim, followed by a 56-mile bike ride and ending with a 13.1 mile run).

Leigh Anne (Hudgings) Anger, 44, was just a few miles into the cycling portion of the race when, according to the racers behind her, another rider swerved in front of Anger. To avoid crashing, Anger hit a traffic cone and flipped.

She suffered multiple skull fractures and bleeding on the brain. Her clavicle bone is broken in two places, her jaw is fractured and four ligaments in her shoulder are detached.

Leigh Anne's neurosurgeon told her and her husband Jay that about one out of 100 people would survive such trauma to the skull and brain. She now has seven plates in her head.

"I just got very, very lucky," Leigh Anne said.

According to Jay, "luck" is an understatement.

"The women that were right behind you, chasing you, one was an anesthesiologist and the other one was a U.S. Navy flight (surgeon)," Jay said. "The three ladies behind those two, one was a trauma nurse, one was a neonatal nurse and the other was an Army (military police)."

All five of those racers stopped to provide medical attention and direct traffic — sacrificing their own race times to help.

Jay was supposed to compete in the triathlon but his doctor recently warned against it because of an old cervical injury. Because of that twist of fate, Jay was by her side when the neurosurgeon discovered the blood clots in her brain and gave permission for the emergency surgery.

"She couldn't remember what state she was in," Jay recalled of his wife when he found her in the emergency room. "But she did remember that I was her husband."

The couple were married just three days prior to the accident.

While in the hospital, Leigh Anne was visited by the racers who stopped to help, as well as complete strangers from the triathlon community in Boulder.

Back in Springfield, the cycling and running community — particularly folks with the Ozarks Multisport Club, Ozark Mountain Ridge Runners, Mother's Brewing cycling team and Bicycle Outlet — followed Leigh Anne' progress as Jay would update on Facebook.

Tim Pigg, owner of Bicycle Outlet, organized a fundraiser bicycle ride and 5K run Monday evening. About 45 local cyclists and runners participated and more than $600 was collected to help Leigh Anne replace her triathlon gear.

"It's just a real close, tight-knit community," Pigg said. "We wish her well and hope for a speedy recovery."

When asked what the support meant to her, Leigh Anne struggled to find words.

"I'm too emotional," she said. "I lost my helmet. I lost all my clothes. I lost a $400 Garmin watch, sunglasses — hundreds of dollars. They had to cut everything I was wearing off of me. It's going to take every bit of that ($600). I was so thankful for that money."

Her friend and training partner, Alicia Wilkerson, was signed up to compete in Boulder, but dropped out when she discovered she was pregnant. Since Wilkerson's husband was in the triathlon, she traveled to Boulder anyway and was with Jay when he found out about the accident.

Wilkerson described Leigh Ann as a tough and driven athlete, yet also very loving and caring.

"Leigh Anne is resilient. For this accident to happen to her of all people, I just know she is going to come back better than before," Wilkerson said. "I can't wait to get back out there with her."

The Boulder Ironman Association has offered her a free entry for the 2017 or 2018 competition. The World Triathlon Corporation (group that organizes Ironman Triathlons) paid for Jay's hotel in Boulder and for a car rental to get home.

Long way to go

According to her husband, Leigh Anne is recovering much faster than her doctors first expected.

"I've see the changes as the hours tick by, not the days. I've seen complex thought processes begin to take place again, complex speech patterns take place," Jay said.

This made Leigh Anne laugh.

"It's still slower," she said. "There are moments that are unpredictable where I can't control — I lose everything. I don't know my name. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know the names for things like a cup. It just comes and goes. It's so frustrating."

Her doctors told Leigh Anne she would make a full recovery, but it will take time, therapy and possibly another surgery to repair her shoulder.

"I still have a long road ahead," she said.

Leigh Anne said she expects to be unable to work for up to 20 weeks. She is a physical therapist assistant and lymphedema therapist at Integrity Home Care.

And she is still coming to terms with the idea of not being able to train until sometime next year.

"For somebody who runs, swims, bikes, trains, hikes," she said, "that is going to be the hardest thing in the world for me."

Bicycle Outlet has started an account for Leigh Anne at Arvest Bank at 4140 S. Fremont Ave. Donations can be made at Bicycle Outlet, Ultramax Sports or Arvest Bank.