In the off-season, Brandon Hartranft went down hard when his bike locked up on the face of a jump. He escaped without the worst-case scenarios, but he’s still suffering through a long road to recover, due to a Traumatic Brian Injury and other major injuries.
This is the unfortunate side effect of the sport we love. Brandon opened up about it all in the recent Racer X Exhaust Podcast. You can listen to the whole interview or read an abbreviated version here.
Racer X: I think here’s the main thing people want to know is, when you first got hurt, did you have feeling and movement and all that stuff? Were there some super scary moments there?
Brandon Hartranft: To be honest, I was knocked out for five or six minutes, so that’s no oxygen to the brain and everything. I remember the bike locking up on the face of a jump and I remember the noise it made. But I don’t remember the pain, and I don’t remember absolutely anything after that. All I remember is being in the hospital and waking up, kinda yelling at the nurse, freaking out because I hurt so bad. I could move my legs and I had feeling right away. But at the time I wasn’t worried about that or anything. I was just sedated on some mad pain drugs.
So, this was big injuries, but also big knock out concussion.
That’s the thing most people don’t know. I had to do speech therapy, and I still have to do counseling, because of my head. There’s so many things people don’t know about. To be honest, the worst part of this is my head. Your brain controls everything. Doctors were so worried about feeling and movement, but at the time, I didn’t even know I broke my back. I was just…I just felt like I was dead laying there. I did have feeling right away. I could feel them touch my feet. I had a traumatic brain injury. I don’t remember much of the first week in the hospital, but I do remember when I got into rehab, and when I had to do speech therapy. They would ask me the dumbest questions, things I swear a kindergartener could answer, and I’d be like “I don’t know the answer to that.” I literally told the lady, “I feel so dumb right now.” She said I was doing better compared to other people. Yeah, it was crazy.
It's crazy to know that those were easy questions, but you also didn’t know the answers.
I’m not kidding, they could ask me what’s two-plus-two and I’d be like, “What?” And my back, I’ve never posted the pictures, but the MRI results, I blew through my disc, so it’s bone on bone right now in my back, and then it shifted all the way into my spinal cord, so it pinched and slit the spinal cord a little bit. It made the spinal cord leak a little bit. So, every doctor would tell me “You’re a walking miracle right now.” But at the time, I had no clue. I don’t know how lucky I was, but now I’m starting to realize it.
So, when I first had my back surgery, they were trying to use a drill bit to create the holes for the rod and screws. And the doctor was saying my bones were so strong they were snapping the drill bits. They were laughing about it! They had never seen that before. They said because I was so fit and so strong that I saved myself from being paralyzed. That’s good. I mean, a drill bit is pretty strong, and they had to go through multiple bits. [Laughs] I don’t know, I guess that’s pretty cool. But I didn’t know any of this. I didn’t know anything that was going on. I broke ribs, partially collapsed my lung, dislocated my hip, broke my shoulder and broke my back. The body is literally going past shock at that point. What’s going beyond shock? I can’t even imagine how the body reacts at that point.
So, you were at the HEP Team’s track?
Yeah, in Fresno (California).
So, you end up at the local hospital there?
I don’t remember any of that. It was Community Regional Medical. I’ve been to three different back doctors, and the guy like crushed all my bones up and threw them back into my spine, and apparently he did it very good. So that’s good. He couldn’t get it straight, because my bones were so strong, but that’s the best he could do, and everyone who has looked at it said he did a good job.
I can read you the whole list of everything I’ve been through, but not even including all the counseling and therapy that I’m still doing now. Nine days in the hospital, three weeks in rehab, three surgeries, I’ve seen three back doctors, I’ve seen two hip doctors and three shoulder doctors, I go to counseling once a week for my brain injury, I’ve been to three EMGs (tests for function of nerves and muscles), I’ve been to a gastrologist because I’m still struggling there. I haven’t pooped for four days, just being honest. It’s so damned miserable at times. I’ve been to a neurologist four times, I go to therapy three times a week for three hours a day. I go to acupuncture. My back and stomach are numb, I’ve got some numb areas on my leg, one foot has less feeling than the other, and I have a sensitive area on my glute and my leg. My walking is good, I’ve been working really hard on that, but I’ve been having major back pain in bed. Seems like something new every freaking month, man.
So how did you end up going back home to New Jersey instead of staying in California.
Well, first, all the therapy and doctors’ visits, with that traffic, I’d be struggling. I’d be spinning and way more mentally cooked out there than here. Plus, we’re saving a lot of money, my parents have stepped up and absolutely crushed it. And I don’t know anybody out there. My parents know people here and they know who to call. It sucks moving away from what I love to do, but my health is more important than dirt bikes right now. I’m telling you, it’s so much easier being home for this situation.
It's nonstop going. I’m obviously super thankful I can walk. My old teammate Brian Moreau, he’ll post that he’s having some hard times. And I understand. His whole life was ripped away in an instant.
You try to remind yourself of that?
I try to. It’s tough because we got married and we were living in California, I figured I would be racing for that HEP team for many more years, and it all just got ripped away. My whole life has changed. I don’t know my future or my wife’s future. Like, I’m dealing with these injuries, but I’m also freaking out over that, trying to figure out my life. It’s a lot going on.
Brandon and his wife, Madison were married not too long before his crash.
I don’t know if you’ve even got to the point where you want to think about this part yet. Do you know if you would want to race again?
Obviously, I want to race again, but do I really want to go through this again? Yeah, I don’t know. I watch the races every weekend because honestly, I get pissed because I see these guys doing good and I know I could be in that position. We’ll see. I’ve just got to get better. Right now, I have to keep my mind busy, and if I don’t, I start freaking out. When I came home from California, I was just sitting on the couch one day, and I just started bawling my eyes out for no reason. It was in front of my parents and my wife. I said, “I need help.” I’m telling you, there’s been dark days. I know people listening to this can say, “Well, he can walk.” But I’m telling you, if you walk in my shoes for a bit, and hitting my head had made this so much harder. It’s been tough, but I’m trying the best I can. I’m trying to keep myself so busy that it keeps my mind numb to the bad stuff. But you know, when you lay down to sleep, that’s when the thoughts come funneling in. Somedays, I just don’t even want to go to bed.
I’ve seen you hanging out with other riders. I know internally, within the pits, you have a lot of friends. It’s good to know you have a good social network of people who have your back, and people who can support you and pick you up, especially once you’re doing a little better physically and can actually hang out.
Yes. It sucks because most of my friends are not from Jersey. My best man and one of my groomsmen. I do have two groomsman who live in New Jersey, and I want to hang out, but everyone has grown up, and everyone has their own life to get to, also. But I’m going to go down to Cooper’s [Webb] house, that will be my first trip since California. I’m going to hang out with him to get the mind clear, get away from doctors and visits and all that. Cooper has been very helpful, very supportive. My wife and I appreciate it.
I’m not going to say I’m best friends with Cooper Webb, but I’ve been around him enough off the track to know he’s not the guy fans see on Saturday. We know him, as a racer, as this bulldog competitor who will slit throats to win a race. But I’ve seen him just hanging out with his buddies and he’s the most regular guy ever.
To be honest, even for me, he’s a way better guy than what people think. Ever since I’ve met him. We’ve clicked. He was one of my groomsmen. When I got hurt, he stepped up to the plate so freaking fast. I’ve had some of the best times of my life with that dude. He helped me get on TLD that year and I did super well that year. He’s always had my back. Obviously, he can do more for me than I can do for him, but I’d do whatever I could for him if roles were reversed. His wife, too, she’s a nurse, and she’s helped me and my wife so much. They’re a lot better people than what people would see. On race day, he’s not there to make friends. He’s there to win races and make money.
I know Road2Recovery and a lot of people have jumped in to help.
I just want to say, it’s crazy how much people have stepped up for me and how much they truly care. Friends from Raceway Park (motocross track in New Jersey), sponsors like SKDA, Corey McFadden over there, and Ethica, they’ve done a great job. Custom Upfits. I’m forgetting some other people because I’m struggling right now, to remember everything. And Road2Recovery, it’s incredible. I can’t thank them enough. They’ve raised over $116 grand. Obviously have medical bills. When I got out of the hospital, I was going to have to do an ambulance ride from Fresno five hours down to Southern California. It would have been the most miserable thing in my life. Road 2 Recovery, Mike [Young] stepped up to the plate and paid for the private jet so I could get over there. They have absolutely gone above and beyond. That’s been amazing.
People can still donate. And I just want people to know, yes, you have insurance, but we all know there are going to be out of pocket costs. I’m sure you could be in for a million dollars when you have this many surgeries and this much therapy and this much of a recovery.
[Laughs] Of course I have insurance. The first surgery, my back surgery, was over half a million. I’m not paying all of that because I have insurance, but that’s what it said on the bill. I’ve had two other surgeries. I’ve gone to so many doctors, MRIs, you know how much that costs. By the time I’m done and healthy, this has got to be a couple million dollars.
You can donate to Brandon’s Road 2 Recovery here.
Hey, if you don’t end up coming back and racing, you did put things together in 2022 and make some strides. It has to be better knowing that you had a solid year, instead of how the rookie year went in 2021.
[Laughs] Oh God, the rookie year… the problem we were having in 2021, we had a lot of bike problems. We were having rods go through the engines. And then that’s what happened when I got hurt. I was so ungodly terrified that was going to happen, just the way I did. People that don’t know behind the scenes, but in 2021, one week in supercross we had like three engines go out. One went out every time I rode. I remember in Orlando, after free practice, I was in the pits literally bawling my eyes out. I was scared for my life. I didn’t want to get hurt! Somehow, I would save it and I wouldn’t crash, but this time I couldn’t save it. So, in 2021, I kind of had an excuse as to why I rode like shit, in supercross. We had bikes breaking a lot, and you can only take so much, man. If I’m gonna crash, I want it to be on my own, you know? So, what happened in November of 2022, that was happening consistently in 2021, but I wasn’t crashing. It would blow up on straight aways. And I remember this triple at State Fair, it locked up and started to endo, but I saved it. Then we had a whole year without bike problems. Honestly in 2022, we had a good package, and the bike was great. But what happened was, literally off the face of the jump, it completely locked up and immediately pitched me over the bars. There was no saving it. I’m telling you, our sport is so mentally tasking and gnarly.
Follow the link below to listen to the entire interview: