Family connects with good Samaritans who rendered aid to Ann Arbor doctor during fatal bike incident
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - A 68-year-old well-known doctor died while riding his bike on Whitmore Lake Road in Ann Arbor on Saturday.
Family members say no one was around to see what's currently being investigated as a freak bike accident on a road that Dr. Mark Oberdoerster navigated for more than three decades since moving to Ann Arbor. However, thanks to the compassion and care of a few fellow residents, his final moments weren't spent alone.
"I wanted him to walk through the door, I wanted him back, and I wanted to put my arms around him again," said his wife, Deborah Oberdoerster.
It's a ride no one in Mark Oberdoerster's family could have imagined would be his last.
"He's always been an avid biker. I've biked the same route with him. I knew exactly where he was at when they told me the location because he and I had biked that area," Deborah Oberdoerster said.
Deborah wasn't biking with him on Saturday. Instead, total strangers dropped everything to try to save him, including one woman who prayed with the doctor to comfort him.
"He had deep faith, and I think having a prayer there was good for him to have that companionship, but it's the whole milieu of the whole situation," Deborah Oberdoerster said.
That included another person who stopped to call first responders, one more to render CPR, and even one stranger who pressed a cold towel against his bloody wounds.
"We're so grateful for the people that didn't hesitate, that held his hand, that prayed with him that did rescue breathing, that did CPR," said Mark's daughter, Molly Oberdoerster.
Oberdoerster's other daughter, Carley, was able to contact a few of the people who made sure Mark's last moments weren't spent alone.
"My dad is the guy who would have made sure that everyone was okay. These people stopped, and it's good to know that there's those people out there because my dad would have stopped too," Carley said.
Mark Oberdoerster's family was the only internal medicine physician left operating a private practice in Ann Arbor. To honor his legacy, they set up an endowment fund to further education for other internal medicine physicians who strive to achieve the same level of personal care for their patients as Mark did.