A year ago, on the afternoon of June 22nd, Dustin Nicholl was riding his motorcycle with a friend. When they were about 10 minutes away from Dustin’s house, his friend stopped along side the road to check on his bike. Dustin pulled off a little way up the road, and then proceeded to turn back to check on his friend. What happened next is every mother’s nightmare, and has the chance to happen to every rider when they go out on the road.

A car traveling along the road collided with Dustin. He was in a coma for the next 5 1/2 weeks and suffered brain injury. After numerous surgeries in attempts to salvage his leg, the bone loss and nerve damage were too significant; his left leg was amputated below the knee on July 28.

Dustin got his first prostheses in late October, and has not stopped moving since. At this point, he is still trying to figure out where he fits in and what he will do with the rest of his life; he struggles with this the most.

In light of the unfortunate events that have taken place in the Nicholl’s lives over the past year, the Tressler Memorial Free Lutheran Church in Loysville held a Bike Blessing on June 12th following their worship service. If you haven’t been to a Bike Blessing before, it is quite a moving and special event to be part of!

The regular church service started at 10:15 on a gorgeous Sunday morning. When the sermon, conducted by Pastor David Peterson, was completed, the congregation and guest bikers moved outside to the parking lot. Outside, Pastor Peterson addressed the crowd to express the objectives for their Blessing: to experience God’s love and give it away; to establish their congregation as bikerfriendly; and to advance motorcycle safety.

Area businesses donated food and refreshments for lunch festivities, the children of the congregation had an opportunity to have their bicycles blessed, and most importantly, awareness was raised of Dustin’s situation. While a year has passed since his accident, his family still has expenses that they incurred due to the extensive medical care he received.

It was a fun event for the bikers involved, for the congregation that had the opportunity to participate, and as always, for the small town of Loysville that had Harley's riding through it at 10:00 on a Sunday morning!

If you would like to assist Dustin’s family, donations can be made to the Dustin Nicholl Benefit Fund, P.O. Box 45, Loysville, PA 17047.