Spartanburg County Council chairman Manning Lynch recovering from serious bicycle accident
Manning Lynch missed Spartanburg County Council's meeting Monday, unable to attend in person due to a serious bicycle accident.
Last week, the second-term chairman of County Council was visiting his daughter in Alexandria, Virginia, to celebrate the birth of his first grandchild.
An avid bicyclist, Lynch went on a 20-mile ride on the Mount Vernon Trail on Aug. 8. He remembers his bicycle struck something before he tumbled from the bicycle.
"I remember going down and hit the pavement," Lynch said Tuesday morning from his room at a rehabilitation hospital in Virginia. "Next thing I know, I'm being loaded into an ambulance. Even then, I thought I'd be home for supper."
At the hospital, doctors told him he had seven broken ribs, three fractured ones in his pelvis area and a broken clavicle.
On Friday, he was transferred from the hospital to a rehab center, where he will work on his recovery. For now, he is using a walker to get around. His wife, Mary Speed, has been at his side.
"I got badly bruised – got every color of the rainbow on my body," Lynch said.
He said should find out this week when he will be able to return to Spartanburg.
"I've got to get back," he said. "I've got work to do."
County Council Vice Chairman David Britt ran Monday's meeting in Lynch's absence. However despite missing his first-ever council meeting in-person, Lynch watched the live stream of the meeting from the rehab center.
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"Manning is watching on the screen and I know you're probably making fun of us for being eight minutes late starting," Britt said in opening the meeting. "The good news is, he's got great care with Mary Speed and doctors and nurses. He's on the road to recovery.
"He will not be in the seat tonight. He'll be back with us pretty soon. Manning, we're wishing you a speedy recovery and I want you all to keep him in your thoughts and prayers as well."
Lynch said he has received an outpouring of support.
"My understanding is, I'm in good hands," he said. "I appreciate everybody's thoughts, prayers, texts, everybody that's contacted me. There's nothing better than a soft touch when you're in a hard spot."
Contact Bob Montgomery at bob.montgomery@shj.com. Please support our coverage of Spartanburg County with a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Spartanburg chairman Lynch recovering from serious bicycle accident
