POLK COUNTY, Iowa —

David VanGundy faces a long recovery at Younker Rehabilitation at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, where he expects to remain until at least early December.

Battered but resolute, he says the crash won’t change who he is.

VanGundy and his wife, Kathleen, were riding their recumbent tricycles south on NW 26th Street in the early afternoon of Nov. 3 when a vehicle struck them from behind and drove away, he said.

VanGundy suffered a broken pelvis in two places, broken ribs, a broken sternum, and a broken clavicle; Kathleen had minor injuries.

His recumbent trike was destroyed.

“I’ll try to go to sleep, and I’ll close my eyes and I’m right back there,” VanGundy said. “It just loops—that initial impact—and you can’t get rid of it.”

Despite the trauma, VanGundy expressed

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