Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Roger's parent s, a long wit h his long -rim e friend Jose Ma nser , were to ld of the m ed ical situa tion . Dr. De Ba ck er was relu ct ant to proceed wit h surge ry to rem ove th e kid ney. a t least not wit hou t the ex press a u t ho rizat io n ' of Roger's fa th er. The doctor . a true Belg ian ra cing fan a s well as urologist . kn ew wh at abl ative kidn ey su rg e ry meant to th e ca reer of a motocross rider : th e end of it. Albert De-Cost er , ra cked with d oubt a nd uncert a int y, was plunged into deep desp air. " W ha t co u ld I do ? Save m y son 's life , o bviously. But a t th e pri ce of losing his kidney . which will a lso put an end to his ca ree r in motocr oss?" You ca n imagine th e angu ish racking Roger's father a t th e tim e . Even vears later. he co u ld not think ba ck on thi s period' without b rea king int o a cold swea t . con sidering the c hoic e th at was no choi ce whi ch he then co nfro nted : to sa ve his son at the cost of ending his chosen motocross ca reer - a ca reer followed with su ch fanati c int en sit y by Belgi ans that their small country has pr oduced more. World Cham p ions in the sport than a ny oth,,,. It was de cid ed not to remove the kidney a t that tim e. ' Initia lly. it appeared that more cons ervative treatment invo lving the insertion o f a urethral probe helped some . The other reason fo r avoiding surgery was th at Roger a bso lu te ly refused to sacri fice the kidney before every possibl e cha nce of sa ving it was exhausted. " At t ha; t ime ... Roge r reca lls in !'('f ft'n . slightly ac n "n (t'd Eng l i ~ h " I had no idea of t h« !'ocriOUSfH'S!'O of mv condi tion . I was co nvinced th at Dr. De-Back er wa ... ' in u'nt io nall v bein g o ve rdrama tic wh en he- decla red I d idn 't have one cha nce in a th ou sand of sa ving m y kidney, I had to sm ile to myself over what I co nsidered merel y a dramatic ploy on his part . " Ve ry quickly. though. I realized th at he wasn 't kidding . One cha nce in a thousand .. . m y whol e world was co lla psing a rou nd me . 1 co u ld never again rac e motocross. Motocross was m y pa ssion . m y reason for living . "Also. Dr . DcBacker d idn't give me mu ch tim e to m ake m y d ecision . It was a matt er of ope ra te . o r probabl y die . I clung to th at on e cha nce in a thousand like a sh ip wrec ked person to a life pr eserver. And a lwa ys. the sink of despair lay waiting fo r m e to slip into it , paral yzin g m y thoughts . I was to th e point of dem and ing wh at m y parents put a bullet through m y head if I sho uld hav e to lose th at kidnev ." For da ys to fo llow . th e path to room 112 on the first floor of th e Institu te Sre, Elisabeth was well worn by Rog er 's p arents , by hi s frien d J ose Manset, by a ll his friends. His relatives a nd frie nds were bro ken -hearted , cho king on their co llective fea rs . Fear for Roger 's life. and his career. gna wi'd at their gu ts. Roger lay the re , a distressed a nd inert hu nk of ba rely living flesh - despondent. ang ry. disag reea ble su n k in h is o wn hopelessnes s. H,' to ld h is visito rs th a t he p refer red to be left a lone . He defied th e doctors a nd wa rd attenda nts in a ll their efforts. It was bel lige re nt beha vior ste m m ing fro m' th e fear of losing his kid ney - a few ou nces of tubes and membranes. on whi ch d epended his life in m otocross. He end u red th e increasi ng pain and su ffered without saying a word . Roger closed up his sickness inside him . drawing a barrier of pain a nd a ntago n ism between himself a nd th e rest of th e world . Meanwhil e . hi s parents and four brothers rec eived a breath of hope when they wer e told o f the res u lts of the lat est urological test. The d a ma ged kidney, previously nonfuncrioning. was / i itt le by little beginn ing to work again . At the sam e tim e , blood clots obstructing th e fluid flow wert' few er a nd no new ones were form ing . A slight im p ro vement in his p hysical condition was noted . Dr . De Backer seized on this excuse to a llow Roger to spen d All Saints' Day weekend wit h h is family . He was mai nl y hoping for an improvem ent in Roger 's mora le. In the DeCoster fa m ily. th er e was now reason for new hope. But rem em bering Roger's unchara cterist icall y bla ck mood a nd suicida l mutterin gs. someone in th e fam ily a lways stayed a t h is side during th ese days a t home. - T he weekend at home was too shan , perhaps, to change th is som ber , self-dest ruc tive attitude. H is mor a le plum metted to its lowest point upon h is return t o . th e In st it ut e . The slight improvement he registered before that weekend fa iled to co nt in ue. More tests and examinations foll owed . T hey all in va ri a b ly showed a de te rio ra tio n o f the kidney. The worsening co nd ition was attributed to probable compression of th e blood vessels by a massive hematoma (clot). T he implacable verdict ca me : An y recovery was im p ossi b le with out su rge ry . An operation . incl udi ng possib ly rem oval of the kidney . was nec essa ry to save Roger's life . When info rm ed of his wor sening condition and th e necessa ry surge ry. Roger fell int o th e blackest despa ir. His o bsession with th at one chance in a th ous and of saving his kidney finally brought a hopeful response from the yo u ng racer. He pressed Dr. DeBacker for authorization to be moved to Paris for consu ltation with two French urol ogi st s. CouveIaire and Cukier . H e was motivated by their su ccess with the Belgian bic ycle racer . Rik Van Loo y. who had suffered severe kidney injuries from a bad fall d uring the T our d e Fran ce bicycle race . Examin at ion by the two Parisian professors co n fir m ed De Ba ck er's d iagnosis. Surgery was imperative . After a fin al consu lta tion with his Fren ch co llea gues, Dr. DeBaker convinced Roger - only afte r makin g a solem n promise not to re mo ve t he kid ney in any case - to permit him to opera te . 29 November 1966 Forty-three pain -filled d ays a fte r the Eksaarde cra sh . R oger De-Cost e r was la id out on an ope rating table. Working for severa l hours, Dr. DeB a ck e r a n d h is as sist a n ts su cceed ed in removing th e damaged tissue from around the kidney's pedi cule connecting it to the other vital o rg a ns . Thi s t issu e wa s th e origin of the hematoma a nd its removal fr eed the renal anery a nd vein . And then ca me th e uncerta in tim e before it was possibl e to evaluate th e success of the operation. It was. th ankfull y. a short wa it. The very first post · o pe r a t ive e xa mi na tio n co n firm ed . t hat the dam aged kidney had begun work ing again. For Roger it was like a rebirth . His morale improved a lmost as fast as it had deteriorated. Aft er almost two months of hospitalization , he co u ld go home to stay. Finally , the nightma re was over, as mu ch for th e DeCostur fam ily as for Roger. And for Sister Lu c , who nu rsed Roger for a ll th at t im e with both co m passio n a n d underst andin g . She was th e clos est continuous observer of DeCoster's life-and -d eath drama and did most to sustain h is mo ra le. She watched him cli m b fr om t he a byss of despa ir wi t h eac h im provement . on ly to slide back on bad days in fits o f rese nt ment and pai n. Sister Lu c became one of Roger DeCosrer's fierces t fans. (Her work a nd her nun's habit keep her from goi ng personally to mo to cross event s. but every time her jo b permits, she still remains true to her pat ient , keep ing a ren dezvou s with the television se t whe ne ve r motocro ss is broadcast - as it usuall y is .every Sunda y in Belgium. With the pa ti ence ac q u ired in her profession , she sits th rou gh th e bicycle ra cing. the socce r, any other spo rts. unt il I he ca me r as swee p across th e motocross tra ck ca p t u ri ng th e latest accomplishments of her favorite ra cer. In this . she is much like Roger's other fans. She expected his . triumphs and victories on th e track. his rise to bein g a great champion. because sh e remembers th e da ys at his bedside when he fought the hardest battle of his life, and won. ) There were no co m plica tio ns to disturb his co nva lesce nce a nd Roger improved rapid ly. So mu ch so t ha t . by Ch ristrnast irne . he was a ble to travel to Czec hoslova kia with Juel Robert . T heir destination wa s Strakonice . home of the CZ fa ctor y where the top motocross bikes in the wor ld we re th en bui lt and wh ere th e ' "works" mot or cycles for the coming co m pe tit ion season were be ing prepare . One of the m was for Joel and . hope full y, one was for Roger. (Con tin ue d on page 24) 13

• Cover