Former Fostorian Keels on the mend after injury

Chuck Keels will assess the damage for a few days before deciding whether he'll get back in the saddle in a short time to complete his "Ride Like A Thriver" bicycle tour of the United States.The former Fostoria resident was discharged from a hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Wednesday after a crash landing off his bicycle landed him there on Sunday."My face isn't looking too good right now, but that's what happens when you kiss the blacktop while you're riding your bike at 25 miles per hour," he said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon.Keels, who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his wife, Hannah, and dog, Jax, was on the 56th day of his scheduled 75-day, 3,000-mile ride from San Diego to St. Augustine, Florida when the crash took place. With Hannah driving a recreational vehicle several yards behind him while on a bridge going across the Mississippi River, Keels' front bicycle tire became caught in a road grate, sending the 57-year-old Keels over the handlebars.Keels sustained a concussion and a broken nose, his face was skinned considerably and he needed five stitches to repair a split lip. He was taken by ambulance on a 45-minute drive to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, and along the way he regained feeling in his fingers and toes after the strain of the crash on the nerves in his neck caused him to temporarily lose it. With the dog riding along in the RV — nicknamed Howie (Home on Wheels) — Hannah followed and later checked into a hotel across the street from the hospital.Both of the Keelses are stage 4 cancer survivors, and the "Ride Like a Thriver" tour is being done to draw attention to their Living Hope Cancer Foundation. Through the foundation, the Keelses are providing free "cancer coaching" to patients, based on nutritional and spiritual living. Their latest book is called "Get Up and Live," and they have been documenting the tour on the foundation's website, getupandlive.org.Among the stops the Keelses have made was in San Antonio, Texas, for Hannah to receive a treatment. She is scheduled for another treatment in Orlando, Florida.The trip began March 28."In the first week, we had 23,000 hits on that site," Chuck Keels said. "We've got a lot of people following us, supporting us, praying for us. The calls, the text messages — it's overwhelming. It really is."Keels said his immediate thought after the accident was to get right back on the bike, but his roll has been slowed by a reality check that has included walking gingerly through the hospital's halls with the assistance of a physical therapist."Here's the thing I tell everybody: 57-year-old guys, after going through stage 4 cancer, have no business bouncing off concrete," he said.He said though he's begun to feel better, he and Hannah will make a prudent decision on what comes next."We'll stay in Baton Rouge another two or three days while I rest and we'll figure out what we're going to do about the end of this bike ride," he said. "We have places we're supposed to be in Florida in two weeks. What we may do is drive some of the ride, but what I do want to do is get back on the bike and finish it."He said an alternative would be to return to Baton Rouge next year for a ride to St. Augustine."The hotel has a swimming pool," he said. "I'll get in there and stretch and get moving again and see how I feel."