One part "Oh my gosh--eew!" One part "How in the world?" One part "That's just the sweetest!"

What started as a simple bike ride between brothers, ended up as a story that will go down in the books as one of the coolest (and perhaps only cool thing) to come out of 2020.

Gavin Mahar and his brother Lucas decided to go ride their mountain bikes  on Watchmaker Hill (some may know it as Essex Street Hill). For those who don't know, it's a really steep hill. And, as sometimes happens in the great outdoors when bikes travel down hills; Gavin accidentally took a spill on his bike. What's worse is he managed to impale his leg with the brake on his bike. And what I mean by that, in case there was any doubt...

The brake...was stuck...in his leg. In his leg. See...

Photo Bangor Police Dept. via Facebook
Photo Bangor Police Dept. via Facebook
loading...

Thankfully, his brother was there and very quickly called 911. And thankfully lots of people from the Bangor Police and Fire departments came to help Gavin according to a Facebook post from the Bangor PD.

Being that the brake was still stuck in him (ouch!) the helpers cut the rest of the bike off of him. Then they carefully transported Gavin to the hospital to retrieve what was left of the bike from his leg.

Watching this little dude put on a brave face as EMT's transported him to get help (while parts of his bike were still stuck in his leg!) so impressed the Officers and Firefighters from Bangor. They decided to take up a collection to replace his wheels (and brakes!)  They got a sweet deal from the nice folks at Ski Rack Sports, and arranged to meet back up with Gavin (once he was feeling better) to present him with his new bike.

Meanwhile, unaware of the generous plan the First Responders were hatching to replace his ride, Gavin and his family were so grateful for all the help that had received, they were busy making up thank-you goody bags for all PD and FD folks involved in rescuing him. When Gavin stopped by Fire Station 6 to deliver his baskets, he got quite the surprise in return. And thankfully, someone thought to get pictures!

This is a great example of the kindness, respect and appreciation being shared in our community. We're glad that Gavin ended up okay. It's cool he now has a new bike. And its really great (but not surprising) that our Bangor Police and Fire folks went above and beyond like that. What could have been a really terrible memory, has been turned into a really great memory.

Photo Bangor Police Dept. via Facebook
Photo Bangor Police Dept. via Facebook
loading...
Photo Bangor Police Dept. via Facebook
Photo Bangor Police Dept. via Facebook
loading...

More From WBZN Old Town Maine