From enthusiast to entrepreneur, former biker Stan Dorak manages a successful business and the pain of arthritis after a near fatal motorcycle accident
Stan Dorak is an affable middle-aged man with an easy laugh – how someone from the UK might imagine a typical Texan. He would have every reason to be atypical, if not hard around the edges after being involved in and surviving a road accident, often only seen in the movies. In May 2015, he and a group of friends from Woodlands, Texas went for a motorcycle ride on a Sunday morning, only for Stan to bear the brunt of a pile up amongst a truck and two motorcycles, one of which was his.
If it hadn’t been for an air ambulance, Stan says he would have “bled out” and not survived the accident. He underwent lifesaving surgery at Memorial Hermann Institute (a highly accredited trauma centre in the United States) which was the beginning of his life’s transition from being a biker to investing more time in entrepreneurial pursuits related to the sporting lifestyle. Stan is the owner of a successful apparel business for bikers that he started 2011. The e-commerce site was dubbed “Sons of Arthritis” by his stepson.
The business took off overnight after a well-known biker posted a branded T-shirt on the web. Stan’s PayPal account filling up with payments for orders he would struggle to fulfil as he was also working fulltime in the oil business.
He was amazed at the response to just one product and recalls his reason for starting the business, “I just set it up for beer money.”
Managing a business while managing pain
Stan’s injuries were significant, requiring six surgeries, and were unbearably painful. Stan’s wife is also a licensed counsellor and has made the journey of rehabilitation and recovery alongside her husband. Talking through the pain was an element of recovery.
The intensity of the pain meant he was prescribed opiod pain killers. After a year of living with pain and an unavoidable dependency on hydrocodone (not prescribed in England and Wales) Stan recovered his mobility.
As the apparel business and its social media presence have taken off, Stan’s awareness has been raised about motorcycle enthusiasts who live with regular musculoskeletal pain. This is largely as a result of injuries from falls or more serious accidents on the road.
Personally, Stan manages joint pain plus the vestiges of nerve damage. This means pain is part of his everyday life. While he feels that motorcyclists should be recognised as needing support to recover from physical injuries and help in maintaining good mental health, he doesn’t think there is an easy way to achieve this.
“Part of the problem is the image bikers have,” Stan explains. “People think of bikers as being gang members. While there are some gangs out there, most bikers are men and women in their forties and fifties. A good bike starts at between $30,000 and $40,000. To afford something like that you have to be established in life.”
Self-management of musculoskeletal pain through physical activity
Stan has built awareness and management of musculoskeletal pain into his business model because people who are living with such intense pain should be aware that they’re not alone in dealing with it.
At this time, Stan doesn’t have an official diagnosis of a specific form of arthritis; for example, rheumatoid or osteoarthritis (the most common form of the condition in Britain and the US). Generally, he describes pain in his joints and issues with mobility which mean that while he tries to stay active every day, it’s difficult to walk very far for long periods. He concentrates on building core body strength through weight training and likes the idea of yoga but hasn’t found a class that’s right for him.
In the meantime, business is still steady and sometimes booming. Stan is self-deprecating about his success and has set up comedy chapters of Sons of Arthritis. Each chapter is a FaceBook group, named after painkillers (ibuprofen and hydrocodone). Sons of Arthritis doesn’t exist as an official club as Stan wants to enjoy the business and is put off by what he thinks may be the inevitable politics of forming a bike club. He is serious about people in similar situations being able to find natural forms of pain management and advocates regular exercise and staying active.
Individual choice for natural treatment
Treatment plans are also individual. In the UK, people with Stan’s symptoms may be offered a range of treatments for musculoskeletal pain. There is also more practical support for people who would like to remain in full-time employment and generally stay active.
Living with arthritis often means life changes but it doesn’t need to stop. With the benefit of good information and advice, as well as access to the right treatment and support, people can live well with arthritis. Anyone can develop musculoskeletal conditions and as in Stan’s story, many people look beyond changing circumstances and towards what can happen next.
Advice and support about arthritis or musculoskeletal conditions is available at Versus Arthritis.
