Zone 8 AX'er down but not out...

[ttweed]

Some of you who have run in the Zone 8 autocross series may know Mike Furnish, an enthusiast from Santa Barbara who drives his Boxster S in most of the Zone events. He was MIA at our last event (our only Zone 8 autox for the year) which I thought was curious, as he nearly always makes it down for them. I found out from talking to another Zone AX'er at the event, David Witteried, that Mike had been hospitalized for the last 45 days, spending almost a month of that time in intensive care, hooked up to a respirator, IVs, and a feeding tube. His lungs started hemorrhaging suddenly one day and he couldn't breathe. He went to the hospital and doesn't remember much from the next month. They did an emergency tracheotomy and hooked him up to machines to save his life. They managed to restore his lung function slowly, and he finally got out of the ICU 9 days ago and is recovering now at St. John's, a physical rehabilitation hospital in Oxnard. I talked to him yesterday, and he is in good spirits, but has a long way to go to get back to normal--he is just very weak from being flat on his back for over a month, and will have to learn how to eat solid food and walk and drive again. He told me he had planned to be at our 8/22 event before he became ill, and has a new set of wheels and tires just waiting to hit the pavement as soon as he is strong enough.

If you want to say hello and give him some encouragement in his recovery, the direct line to his room is (805) 988-2500, extension 4220. He is usually in physical therapy early in the day, so it's best to call after 3:00 PM, I think.

TT