I am still working on gaining complete use of my left hand and then will be looking forward to trying to get a prosthesis for my left leg. I was unemployed at the time of the injury due to waiting to find out what was to be done with my right knee that I had surgery on and it was unsuccessful. I was tuning two friends cars and doing transmissions out of an old galvanized shop behind my house to stay on top of my bills. So yup, you guessed it, no insurance. We are waiting on the D.O.T. investigation to find out what caused the nitrous bottle to explode that caused all the damage to me. We were not heating it, filling it, playing catch with it, or anything that caused the explosion. It was removed from a car I bought in August of 08 and looked brand new. The previous owner had installed an electric bottle heater on it and the decal was still fully intact as well. (so no signs of being heated with a torch) The bottle was moved from one location and placed under a work bench and minutes later it exploded. I was about three feet away from it when it came apart and guess I am lucky I was not any closer. My girlfriend was at the door of the shop about 16 feet away and the concussion blew her out of the door and onto the ground, luckily she only suffered a ruptured eardrum and bruised lungs. My best friend was in the bay on the other side of a customers car, he had a little ringing in his ears for a few days, but the car saved him from any other injuries. We created a web site to help raise money for my medical bills and a prosthesis in the future. (hopefully soon) We are giving people that donate Goodie Bags/Boxes full of Product Brochures, decals, magazines, coupons, and vouchers from several well known High Performance Vendors. We are also doing Drawings weekly and a Silent Auction monthly. You can learn more by visiting us at: www.awalkwithblake.com there is contact information there if needed as well. If this could be posted, it will help us get the word out about the site and hopefully assist us in getting me walking again. Please let me know if you will post the above.

I am in the #40 issue of Drag Illustrated page 127, the 2010 Feb. issue, if verification is needed. The article can also be read on my Homepage if you do not get Drag Illustrated. Below is my story.

Thanks, Blake