Moms and Miracles

by Wendy Winn

As a young girl living in southeastern Idaho I dreamed of being the best cowgirl ever. Don’t know that I dreamed of pulling a load of bull riders, calf ropers, team ropers, goat tiers and barrel racers. Thirty five years later and I can’t believe I’m living a dream!

Growing up I always had a horse, wanted to rodeo and be in the arena. A large farm life led me to learning to work hard, long hours and late night suppers with little TV. Sounds like a deprived child hood? Guess again, its lead me to a love for life, a desire to finish everything I start and be patient about everything I do.

Finishing high school and heading on to college was an exciting time in my life. Finding the love of my life, Casy a world class horseman and bull rider things were looking good. The reality of finding the right guy didn’t take to long; he was just about finished with his education and ready for a wife. We were married the next year, I don’t think he knew what he had gotten himself into! A six foot, blond women, hot headed with little experience in the marriage department.

We had lots of those ups and down’s I think most marriages experience. I could write about that but it would be a long story, which we will save for later. I want to touch a little on the fact that I married the greatest guy ever who I drug through hell and back for a couple of years. He had girls waiting for me to sign those divorce papers, to bad for them I pulled my head out of my rear and looked to heaven for some kind of sign.

Well I got my sign. It was a wonderful May in 1999. We had just had our second son in January and things had been a little rough. Shad’s first four months were a little frightening he had pneumonia twice and been in the hospital for a week. Heaven had quietly been knocking on our door about getting our lives in order, but we were too stubborn to listen. We figured we had been living better than before and pretty much we were unstoppable.

May 26th was a day that will go down in the books a complete miracle. My husband had called me from school and told me the cows on the bench were headed to the neighbors hay field. I needed to get to the bench to push them back down to the river. We were on the neighbors crap list already!

I called a friend who lived in Vernal to see if she could help. She was excited to go for a ride and brought her son with her to ride with my six year old, Dixon. As I walked to the horses I decided to ride a new mount, a team roping horse we had been trying out.

Scioto was his name, weighing a good thirteen hundred pounds and standing sixteen hands he had a lot to offer. I had gotten along good with him and would try him outside the arena today. Deb, Kayla and Jared arrived soon and we decided that Kayla would stay and watch Shad and the rest would go chase cows.

We had hurried along, so we could get a jump on the cows. Arriving at the bench we jumped the horses out and made a plan. As we left the truck, Deb was sure I needed to take her cell phone so I could check on Shad. We argued for some time but then decided it would be good to have if Kayla called. The landscape consisted of cactus and alkali and sand. It was a wonderful morning and we headed down the dug way towards the wild bovines that were across the river.

Deb, Dixon and Jared headed to the west down the river to gather cows to bring back with the herd I would gather. I decided to go across the river and gather ten pair and push the cattle west also. The river was low and spring was really starting to show the signs of dryness. My ride for the day was working quite well, and I was excited that I might get to purchase him to head steers on. Cattle do have a mind of their own and as we crossed the river half of the breech herd headed straight up the cliffs the wrong way.

Strong willed I have to say is a character I was born with and the cattle were not going to get a jump on me. With some speed I asked my horse for another gear and decided I would need to move to higher ground to head the cattle back to the correct direction. As I moved up a large ravine, my mistake of the morning was evident. When I had saddled my horse, I had hurried things too fast that morning and left the breast collar on another saddle I rode more often.

Psycho Ride had just realized that my new saddle’s back cinch had moved to his flank and scared to death he decided to remove the itch in his belly. We had no where to go other than down an eight foot slough off and into a ravine. I had never experienced a horse that bucked with so much power!

Waking up alone and in excruciating pain, I pulled myself up and out of the hole. Praying with all earnestly heart, I plead with my heavenly father I would make it and that I would be able to raise my children. Thank heaven for the cell phone in my pocket. As I lay in the sand under a large ravine, blessings poured out as my phone worked when I dialed 911.

A women answered asking me what my emergency was? I told her I had been bucked off. Surprisingly she asked me off what? A horse, do you know where you are? I didn’t know – she started to ask me different locations that I was close to. When she said Randlett I said yes and then she said Leland Bench. That was it; I gave her exact location to my whereabouts, above a river bend and near a head gate in an irrigation ditch.

Shortly after my friend Deb arrived with the boys. Dixon jumped from his little mount Spur and grabbed my hand. Deb said your legs are broke? Unfortunately I told her it was worse than that and to go get the truck and bring it down the seven mile base of the cliff to where I was, and we would have to meet the ambulance. I knew we needed to hurry because I didn’t have long.

Dixon held my hand as Deb and Jared went to get the truck. Dixon told me a revised version of the Three Bears and then he said a child’s prayer and I knew God sent angels to protect us until helped arrived.

45 minutes later helped arrived, as the E.M.T.’s stormed down the hill, they started asking all kinds of questions and I could sense urgency in their voices. I knew my neck and back was ok, but my left side was filled with intense pain and my right leg I thought was going to burn in half. After strapping me to a back board and finally finding a vein, they put me in the back of Deb’s truck and drove seven miles along the bumpy cobble rock cattle path. We arrived at the ambulance and the wild ride started; it felt like we were flying, only once we stopped on our way to the Uintah Basin Hospital in Roosevelt.

Deb had called Casy when they put me in the ambulance and told him I had been in accident. She didn’t have the logistics she just knew I was pretty hurt. Casy waited over 45 minutes before he heard the cries of the ambulance. Sad to say once I got their they wouldn’t let him in because of the high trauma. Finally he told a neighbor he was going in no matter what. If I was dying he was going to hold my hand.

I remember clearly almost everything. They told me they were going to check to see if their was fluid or blood in my stomach? It felt like a staple gun, going into my side. A team roping friend was there that day and he and the lead trauma guy were arguing about taking a c scan to see if my neck or back were broken. Kelly my team roping friend talked him into the C Scan. Nurses were frantically trying to get a blood transfusion going, and others were busy doing what they do. Casy stood at my head and stroked my hair and told me it would be ok. It was time to go to emergency surgery; I was bleeding inside and no stopping.

As we were headed down the hallway and surgeon asked Casy if he had any questions. I told him to not kill me, I had been this far and didn’t plan on being done. He assured Casy and I he was the best internal specialist around.

Blessing after blessing were in my court this day, just a few weeks prior a little girl had similar injuries and they tried to fly her to the Wasatch front – sadly she bled to death. There was no internal specialist on call that day.

After some intense surgery I was in ICU. After waking up, the nurses asked how my pain was? All I could say was it hurts, it hurts. The nurses had given all of the morphine my body could have. Really there was nothing more to do. Casy called his uncle and cousin who came and anointed my head with oil, and gave me a priesthood blessing. I then slept. The next day; I was moved to another room. The Dr. came in and told me every thing looked good. He removed my spleen and the blood transfusion went well. My body had lost 7 units of blood; I suffered 13 broken ribs, and tore up my right knee.

After resting in the hospital for two days, the doctor told me if I could shower I could go home. Hello hot water – good bye hospital. As I went home I felt over whelmed with thankfulness in my heart for my life being saved.

As the next few weeks unfolded and I recovered, I started to read the scripture, I knew of the truths in the pages and my testimony was growing. I had been saved for a reason; my life had been one of carelessness and abuse of others. I needed to change, and I know as I had lain in the sand that day I had a conversation with an angel or maybe Heavenly Father and I had promised that if my life were spared I would devote the rest of my life to saving others.

Thank goodness for the prayers and fasting of others, it was their faith along with mine that saved my life and my soul. Leaves me more time to be a rodeo mom, help my children, and others succeed with their goals and dreams. Thirty-five more years of hauling the big rig up and down the road for a life full of memories.