A Personal Letter From Ian Trettel 6

Dear sponsors, friends, and all of my
fans;

Since my injury, I've been looking
forward to the day that I could personally reach out and thank
everyone for all of the love and support that you have shown me and
my family through these tough times. I'm so blessed and moved by the
constant caring that has been sent my way from each and everyone of
you. So first and foremost - THANKS!

On March 5th, I suffered a Traumatic
Brain Injury during my practice session at the Daytona Supercross.
The injury required me to be in a medical coma for almost 4 weeks and
I am now in my 7th week of rehab at The Shepard Center in Atlanta.
The injury has left me with several physical and cognitive deficits
that with dedication and focus can be managed allowing me to live a
full and prosperous life. I will continue my rehab through The
Shepard Center / Pathways for another 4-5 weeks before I can return
home. I'm excited for that time to come and to also see many of you
again but for now I need to continue to focus on my rehab so that I
can maximize my recovery.

Even though that through hard work and
dedication my long term prognosis is excellent, I along with my
family and my Doctors have been forced to make the decision to
discontinue my Motocross career. Even if I were to make a full
physical, and cognitive recovery, my brain injuries are severe enough
that the risks associated with another head injury would by life
threatening. That's just not a risk that I'm willing to take seeing
that I have my entire life in front of me and I'm not willing to put
my family, friends, and myself through anything like this again.
Motocross has been the only life I have ever known but I am now ready
to move on and live for the other things that I enjoy. I will use my
accomplishments to pave a new path for me hopefully in some way
helping fellow TBI patients. Life looks different to me now and I
plan to make the best of what I have.

I really want to say a special thanks
and appreciation to all of my many sponsors that have stood by my
side helping me to make my Motocross career what it was. I'm hoping
that in some way I can continue to stay involved with all of you as I
move my focus to other interests. I'm confident that whatever I
decide to do, that with your help, I'll be able to continue to
achieve great things.

Thanks again to everyone for your
support and prayers. It truly helped me and my family get through
this and I look forward to seeing and talking to you very soon.

Sincerely yours,

Ian