RUTLAND, Mass. — A Shrewsbury couple who were hit by a car and thrown from their motorcycle are thanking the many people they say helped them pull through the painful ordeal.
Buddy Lambert was driving his motorcycle with his wife Kate Curtis in the sidecar on June 17. As they were stopped on Rte. 56 that Saturday afternoon, waiting to turn left into Buddy’s aunt and uncle’s driveway, a car driven by an elderly woman rear-ended them, never braking.
They were ejected and their helmets flew off, the couple said. Buddy hit the car windshield and then the road, breaking six ribs, his humerus and four bones in his spine. Kate smashed her face on the pavement, suffering a concussion and several large scratches and bruises on her face.
Dazed, Kate crawled to the side of the road. Buddy, too, was in and out of consciousness, struggling to breathe and moaning in pain.
“That was the first voice I heard was (my uncle Phil) saying, ‘Buddy, ‘Everything’s going to be okay,’” Buddy told Boston 25 News Thursday. “He (later) told me, ‘Actually, I didn’t know if you were going to be okay.’”
As Buddy’s uncle and his aunt Connie comforted the couple, neighbors who had witnessed the accident and run to the scene, provided blankets and reassurance.
“All those people were amazing,” Kate said. “As amazing as it can be to wake up after an accident like that, it was, because there were so many people around us trying to make us as comfortable as we could be.”
Two ambulances rushed Buddy and Kate to the hospital. The EMTs, Buddy says, helped save his life, and the nurses at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester provided the care and support he needed to get through five difficult days in the hospital – three in intensive care.
“I’m not a religious person, but they are angels,” Buddy said.
“Just a million thank yous to everyone,” Kate said. “I feel like I can’t thank everyone enough. Everyone at the scene and everyone in the hospital.”
Buddy and Kate are now home recovering. They spent their second anniversary taking care of each other’s injuries. While it wasn’t a glamorous anniversary, it was all the couple wanted.
“You know what? So what my face is messed up,” Kate said. “Even if I have scars, they’ll be a reminder that everything ended up okay, and we still have each other.”
“We vowed to be there for each other in sickness and in health, and you don’t intend on that happening so soon,” Buddy added. “She’s been there for me, helps me get out of the chair, helps me with everything.”
Rutland police told Boston 25 News Thursday the accident is still under investigation. No citation had been filed or action taken against the driver by Thursday evening.
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