Los Gatos Weekly-Times

News

Bike accident puts woman into a hospital in Vietnam

By Judy Peterson

A Los Gatos woman remains hospitalized in Vietnam after being seriously injured in a bicycle accident. Sharon Downing was vacationing in Vietnam with her son and daughter-in-law when the accident occurred on Jan. 1.

According to her son Aaron, they were on a bicycle excursion in Halong Bay, which he described as an area with some "pretty serious hills." He went on to say, "As my mother was descending one of the hills, she wasn't able to stop. She creamed into a concrete ditch at the side of a mountain."

Sharon Downing was treated at a local clinic and then transported by car to L'Hopital Francais de Hanoi. She suffered eight broken ribs, a punctured lung and a 6-inch gash on her right arm. A shoulder, a wrist, her collarbone and several fingers were also broken in the accident.

Aaron Downing, who grew up in Los Gatos, says his mother almost died on the six-hour trip from the Halong Bay clinic to the Hanoi hospital. "The care is the best we can get, but it is still substandard," he said.

He blames the accident on poor translations and poor equipment. He said he and his mother did not understand how steep the hills were and, he added, "The bike's brakes didn't work and the tires were bald. There were no skid marks."

Downing hopes his mother will be stable enough to return home on Jan. 19.