– Thought he was dead

During a bicycle collection in May last year, things went wrong for skater Sverre Lunde Pedersen. The 29-year-old slammed into a rock wall and was close to losing his life.

A little over a year later, he shows a picture the public has never seen before.

It happens in a documentary series Pedersen himself has made with his friend Kristian Vårvik. There, viewers hear about the dramatic day from everyone who participated and get a glimpse of how Pedersen himself felt when he lay in the ditch.

– That was perhaps the worst thing I have been through. I was sure when I saw the fall that it was the last we had seen of Sverre, says teammate Hallgeir Engebråten in the documentary.

– I thought he was lame or dead. It slammed louder than I’ve ever heard it slam before. I was really worried, says Odin By Farstad.

– I got scared

The damage was extensive. Two fractures in the left hand, one fracture in the right forearm, a “category four” injury to the liver, an ugly abrasion on the right thigh, injury and disc slippage on a cervical vertebra (which had to be operated on), minor damage to the kidney, a punctured lung and a fracture of the cheekbone.

He lost a lot of blood and it was not far off that things got much worse. In the documentary, Elin Thorsen, a doctor at Ullevål hospital, explains that every single injury was serious. She pointed out that it is much more difficult for the body when you get many things at once.

Lunde Pedersen was hospitalized for eight days. Days that were long and heavy for those closest to him.

– I was very scared. Then I got a feeling of desperation. I wanted to help, but I did not get to do it, says his brother Eirik Lunde Pedersen in the documentary.

And especially the injury to the neck could have major consequences for Lunde Pedersen. At first it was only to be treated with a neck collar, but then the doctors decided to operate.

– It turned out that he had a serious neck injury that is characterized as unstable. Then the vertebrae can slip in relation to each other and if they had slipped, the spinal cord will be pinched, partially or completely, and if it is completely pinched, you will be paralyzed from the neck down, the doctor continues.

– Good people around me

Lunde Pedersen thinks it is disgusting to think that things could have gone much worse.

– I have tried to displace such things and rather think that it went well. It was so ugly injuries that I must be happy that I do not have pain here I sit today, he tells Dagbladet.

He adds that he finds it strong to hear the stories of friends and family.

– I have told my own story many times, so it does not evoke such strong emotions, but seeing and hearing the stories of the others was strong. It was tough to see, but at the same time also nice to see that I have such good people around me.

Lunde Pedersen believes the accident was very toned down when it came out in the media.

– Kristian and I wanted to try this project and get a little closer to me and my life. Then going deeper into this accident was something we felt was important to bring out, he says.