Beloved shakuhachi player/teacher Riley Lee was hit and injured by a car Thursday Oct. 28 while walking near a major road in Brisbane Australia. He is currently hospitalized in Royal Brisbane Hospital with multiple broken bones and contusions according to his wife, Patricia.
Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin of New York posted the news on Shakuhachi Forum (BBQ, whatever) on Friday Oct. 29: http://shakuhachiforum.com/viewtopic.php?pid=35267#p35267
For the record, I'll post Patricia Lee's emails:
> Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:23:11 +1100 > To: patricia@rileylee.net > From: patricia@rileylee.net >Subject: Riley in Royal Brisbane Hospital
> > Just a quick note to update you: Yesterday (THU 28 OCT) afternoon, around 4pm Riley was walking along the footpath on a busy one way street in the middle of Brisbane. He was hit by a car which had mounted the curb.
I was informed of this by the police woman who rang me from the hospital on Riley's phone.
Riley had asked her to phone me and tell me what had happened. At that stage they thought he had a broken leg and maybe a broken nose. He was badly bruised, cut about and in pain but conscious waiting to be checked out by the doctors.
Subsequent phone calls with the hospital and the police woman gave me more info.
It appears it was quite a pile up with at least one car ploughing into the back of the car that hit Riley and causing its steering to lock and mount the pavement. The police woman said it was amazing that Riley was not killed. I spoke briefly with Riley later to reassure him that I had been in contact with everyone and that the rest of the taiko group had reorganised the show to go on without him.
At around midnight I got a report from the hospital that his left shoulder is broken but not too badly. They will probably put it in plaster. The worse pain is in his left knee where it seems the ligaments are torn on both sides of the knee cap. The orthopaedic surgeon felt he needed (no pun intended!) to operate. R is badly bruised and scrapped and in a lot of pain.
I will call the hospital soon but it seems he will have to stay there for a couple of days. Once I know he can be released from hospital I will fly up to Brisbane to bring him home. I will keep you posted when I know more.
Love, P
Later, Patricia provided this update:
I have just had a phone call from Graham, the TaikOz artistic director on this tour, who has been back and forth to the hospital checking on Riley. He says Riley's shakuhachi seem to have survived the impact unscathed but he didn't know if Riley had checked his computer...these were all in his back pack when the accident happened.
At this stage I only have the following info from Riley via text msg. I assume this is info he has received as a result of X-rays. His left arm is broken below the shoulder. Probably it will need a plate. His left knee is really messed up and will probably need reconstruction. There is another break near the ankle which will heal itself. It seems the operations will not happen until Monday. He is still waiting for an MRI. And finally his latest text msg says he has a burn on his left calf that will need a skin graft.
Shakuhachi Beat and it's extensive research, production and marketing staff send our concern and love to Riley and Patricia with best wishes for a good recuperation.
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