A People Whisperer (a horse) for Kendall

My name is Renee Crosby, and Rob and I are the parents of Kendall, an amazing, funny, sassy, brilliant and kind 15 year old. We are raising money to heal and empower her through (horse) equine therapy. Kind of like an emotional support dog, only 900 pounds heavier, and a lot more expensive. We want to provide Kendall with her own horse for healing.

Ok, so you might be thinking if the emotional support dog is less expensive and way smaller, why not just get her one of those instead of an expensive horse? Good question. I think the picture below says it all. This was the unexpected exact moment that Dinah, whom Kendall just met, the horse came up and hugged (yes, horses give hugs) Kendall. This is love at first sight!

 

 

WHY HORSE THERAPY?

 

Well, let me tell you what happened in a blink of an eye that changed Kendall’s path in life, forever. Traumatic brain injury. There I said it.

 

During our fifteen year old daughter’s brain surgery procedure, the unexpected happened. Medically speaking, Kendall sustained a traumatic brain injury. Or, in regular terms, or layman’s terms, or better yet parental terms, we would say that “there was a perplexing set of events that occurred that resulted in a bolt getting smashed into our daughters brain, and severing an artery on the way in.”

 

As parents, when the surgeons come to tell you that things didn’t go as planned, you freeze and hold your breath. I heard something about a brain injury, bleeding, oh crap a blood transfusion. Huh, why would she have a blood transfusion? Oh they mean her actual brain was bleeding. Oh my Lord, help me.

 

We stare blankly at each other following the doctors down the hall. We get to see Kendall. What is going on? Is this real? We had no idea what effect it would have and on what? Would she be in a vegetative state? Would she be able to talk? Would she remember who I was? What does that mean a “traumatic brain injury.”

 

We entered the PICU room, and there was our sweet baby girl, Kendall. She wasn't able to speak much. And what few words she did say, they made no sense. We had her brother drive home from college to spend the evening with us. He took the time to read all of the cards (since she couldn't read now) that we had received for her before surgery.

 

By the next morning, we were set up with special software that allowed her to type words to communicate thoughts. One thing was clear, she was still our sassy funny girl. She wanted us to create this “meme” to send to family (while still in the PICU).  Resilient, yes. Children amaze us at every turn!

 

(Note: This is not the acrual injury site. It was where one of the fiducials were placed during surgery.)

 

LANGUAGE/COMMUNICATION IMPACT

 

As of today, she still has language problems including speech and reading, and has not yet been able to return to school.

 

Her speech problems have isolated her from school, friends, family and church. Her humiliation and frustration with trying to talk to others limited her reaching out to others. When she did reach out on the phone or FaceTime, even close family members couldn't understand her or connect her thoughts to even have a short conversation. It was and is heartbreaking.

 

We don’t know if she will completely recover back to before the surgery, but we have hope and we have our baby girl!

 

HORSES: People Whisperers

 

With her communication difficulties, horses have the ability to communicate on another level that is truly miraculous. We know that the equine horse therapy is doing wonders for her emotionally, giving her confidence and great joy. The horses love in a special way without judgment. They teach her boundaries, understanding emotions and even allow her to process her emotions through horse work. Horses should be called people whisperers. Kendall has embraced these loving animals and depends on them now for meaningful relationships.

 

 

Notice the horse even has her eyes closed in contentment! Again, this is Dinah and the first time they met and loved on each other!

 

In light of her isolation from people but love of animals, we have just bought a small farm to provide Kendall a place to have more animals and to recover with peace amidst nature.  We have two dogs, Shadow (black dog) and Kita that enjoy the new farm.

 

 

OUR GOAL

 

Although Kendall is doing equine therapy and riding lessons at local ranches, we would love to have Kendall get her own horse for healing. We humbly ask that you donate any amount you feel led to help us raise the money to get her a horse (and set up- shelter, round pen, etc.).

 

We feel that an outpouring of love from all of you will provide its own healing power to let her know how many others are in her corner cheering her on! Maybe this is something you don’t feel led to donate to, that’s OK. But, consider passing along to your friends and family in lieu of donating.

 

Thank you for sharing in our journey. We can't wait to share updates as Kendall improves and as our journey evolves.