When Rawlins, Wyoming, man Phil Bollinger’s car was stolen last week during a family trip to Denver, he just shrugged and figured he’s still happy to be alive.
The theft happened about six weeks after Bollinger, 55, crashed his 1800 Kawasaki motorcycle and nearly died. After dodging some deer on that ride Oct. 16, he went off state Highway 70 near Encampment, hit a rock and was thrown head-first into a culvert.
Trapped underneath the motorcycle, when storm clouds gathered overhead two hours later, Bollinger resigned himself to the thought of death.
Though pinned under his ride, Bollinger was able to free both legs. The left one hurt too badly to move, but the right one would rise. So Bollinger did the only thing he could — he waved his boot in the air every time he heard a vehicle coming down the road. His leg grew so weary he braced it in the air with his hands.
After two hours, hunters Jason and Ben Koperski noticed the square-toed, brown boot waving in the air and stopped. The men comforted Bollinger and walked to a cellphone service patch to call emergency services.
An ambulance took Bollinger to a helicopter, which then flew him from Carbon County to Fort Collins, Colorado. As Bollinger flew away, the helicopter rattled. The clouds unleashed at least an hour of hard rain.
That culvert was “washed out” that day, Bollinger said.
Bollinger’s broken rib gouged into a vital artery while he was in the hospital, he said. Fortunately, a surgeon was in and was able to save Bollinger against all odds.
Bollinger went into surgery unconscious and intubated. The surgeon split open his body from his armpit to his back, pried his ribs apart and applied a skin graft to his severed artery, he said.
Bollinger required 30 units of blood product.
He woke dulled by morphine, but hallucinating from ketamine.
“I woke up from a dream that there was another lady in the room telling me I had to go with her, and I didn’t recognize her,” he said. “She told me she was my wife, and I had to go with her, ‘body or not.’ I distinctly remember that.”
He jolted awake and saw a nurse in his room and demanded to see his wife, Susan.
His wife, sleepy on the couch, came to his side, and Bollinger quizzed her on the details of their life — his favorite car ('72 Corvette) and their anniversary date — to make sure she was real.
She answered his questions and promised not to leave his side, even though she’d had a brain infection and had been hospitalized just a couple weeks earlier.
Bollinger recalled the incident tearfully.
‘I’m Out Of Here’
He remained in a Fort Collins trauma hospital for three weeks, then returned to his Rawlins home in early November. The hospital wanted to keep him another three weeks, but he refused to stay.
“I’ve already shown you I can walk and talk — I’m out of here,” Bollinger told Cowboy State Daily.
Bollinger is a father to six children, including four adopted. Four of his kids are adults, but the two little ones are only 5 and 7.
Now Bollinger is at about “50%” healed, he said. His shoulders are swollen, and he may require shoulder surgery. His collapsed lung is functioning again, though. The skin graft to his severed artery is holding.
And most importantly for Bollinger, 21 family members gathered around him for a huge Thanksgiving celebration last week.
Father and son hunters Jason and Ben Koperski, right, saved Phil Bollinger after he became stuck under his motorcycle in a culvert. (Courtesy Phil Bollinger) 
Phil Bollinger rides his motorcycle, but it may be awhile before he can ride it again. (Courtesy Phil Bollinger) 
Phil Bollinger's motorcycle had blood on it after his crash near Encampment. (Courtesy Phil Bollinger)
But The Car Was Destroyed
The Monday before Thanksgiving, the Bollingers drove to Denver to pick up their daughter from the airport. Her plane was set to land Tuesday.
The family spent the night in Denver, and someone stole their 2013 GMC Acadia, said Bollinger.
Police were able to recover the vehicle, and the family saved their personal items from it, but the car was ruined, he added.
“Never thought that would happen,” said Bollinger. “We kind of saw that like, after everything else we’ve been through, this ain’t shit.”
Bollinger had to wait for his son to drive over in an extra car. The delay set the family’s Thanksgiving preparation behind by a day, and they didn’t reach home until Wednesday night.
They made a snap decision to have Thanksgiving at Bollinger’s mother-in-law’s house in Rawlins instead of his own, since they weren’t ready to host the feast.
“Which was fine. It’s smaller, so we were all just closer together,” he said with a chuckle.
Wouldn’t Have Met Them
Bollinger’s new outlook on life is positive and awe-filled. He’s bonded with Ben Koperski and Ben’s son, Jason, the hunters who came to his rescue after his crash.
To Bollinger, the pair are new family members. He’s so grateful for them, he spoke as though meeting them made the crash worth enduring.
“Had I just gone home (instead of an alternate route to avoid high winds) I wouldn’t have gotten in the accident,” said Bollinger. “But then I wouldn’t have met Ben and James either.”
The pair spotted Bollinger’s boot in the air that day and stopped, even after more than a dozen cars passed by without noticing.
Jason had done search and rescue missions for seven years with the U.S. Coast Guard and immediately went into rescue mode. They couldn’t get the motorcycle off Bollinger’s leg but kept him warm and alert while roving for service to call 911 and reach the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office.
The Koperskis kept Bollinger’s mind active by joking with him. They teased him about taking a nap in the culvert.
Their jokes haven’t stopped since, Bollinger said.
He noted that he’s not much of a church-going man. But he believes in God, and he believes God sent the Koperskis to him at the right moment.
Phil Bollinger's motorcycle is recovered after a crash on Wyoming Highway 70. (Courtesy Phil Bollinger) 
Father and son hunters Jason and Ben Koperski saved Phil Bollinger after he became stuck under his motorcycle in a culvert. (Courtesy Phil Bollinger)
Haunted
Though thrilled at life, Bollinger is still haunted by the experience. He becomes emotional when remembering his darkest moments in the hospital. He marvels at what may have happened if a surgeon hadn’t been right next to him when his artery was gouged.
His yellow cruiser sits unused, but barely damaged. It’s got a bent fender, a bent footrest.
He’s hoping to ride it again someday.
Bollinger’s daughter, who lives in North Dakota, saw news of a fatal motorcycle crash in her town soon after Bollinger’s non-fatal crash happened. She, too, was haunted by what may have happened to her dad.
“My daughter just about broke down from it,” he said of that crash. “So it’s hard for her.”
Bollinger hasn’t described his trials in great detail to his mother, who is on year 12 of what was predicted to be a decade to live after surviving breast cancer.
“I didn’t want to stress her, didn’t want her to worry about it,” he said.
His other children are doing well. The two little children were just happy when he came home.
“They just give me hugs all the time,” said Bollinger. “They tell me they’re glad I’m better and getting better.”
The medical bills are massive, Bollinger said. He’s working “a little bit” through his business, Pembroke Training Solutions. His wife is back to work at the local hospital.
“I mean, we have financial problems right now, which we know we’ll get taken care of — which we always have,” he said. “With adopting the kids and stuff, we’ve always made it happen.”
Material things are the furthest from his line of focus these days, said Bollinger.
“The past is the past,” he said. “The future can be outstanding and wonderful, and we just have to go forward no matter what we go through.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
