Old News- Schad Collapses Lung in Blackcomb Pipe

from freeskier.com
By: Jennifer Samelson
First Appeared: Spring 2002

Shannon Schad, Colorado's stand-out freerider, suffered a collapsed lung on July 6 after decking out a huge air in Blackcomb's halfpipe.

Schad was working on a new trick, an alley-oop underflip when he hit the lip of the pipe and was thrown to the bottom of the pipe, landing on the left side of his chest.

"I thought I dislocated my shoulder," commented Schad. "My whole left side was swollen. It hurt real bad, it hurt to breathe too."

Immediately Schad skied down and flew back to Colorado that day in order to get checked out by doctors. The diagnosis: a collapsed lung filled with air pockets and two broken ribs.

The doctors at Fairfield hospital inserted a tube into Schad's chest in order to release the pockets of air.

Today Shannon is feeling 100 percent better and felt that the accident could not have been avoided. It's just one of those things that "could've happened to anyone."

He plans on taking things easy for the next week before heading back to work.

source: http://www.freeskier.com/skiers/article_display.cfm?refid=662