My mom Julie was in the process of training her 3 year old filly to be saddle broke and rideable. She lunged great in the ring that night with the saddle on and she felt comfortable to get in the saddle and see how she would do with weight on her back. With my dad holding the reins they attempted to have her take a single step forward and with one step she went ballistic. My mom was thrown over her back end and landed right on her neck and immediately could not move anything chest down. She was taken to Hartford hospital where it was determined she had fractured her C6 and C7 and the fracture was pushing against and causing damage to her spinal cord. In the weeks that followed she was in the neuro ICU for 3 weeks and had 3 spinal surgeries. She was transferred to Gaylord on July 3rd and at that time she couldn’t even move a toe. In the two months since she has been at Gaylord she has gone from no movement below the level of her injury to now being able to stand (with assistance) and take assisted steps in the parallel bars. Her recovery thus far has been miraculous and she is as tough as nails. And the people at Gaylord are amazing.

After much convincing my mom agreed to let me make a go fund me for her. I know how many people she has in her corner and based on how many cards she has received since being in the hospital and rehab (thank you so much everyone) I know she is loved. This injury has been life changing in the worst way and the rehab she needs to continue to have progress and any hope to be able to independently walk costs a ton of money. We’ve used every penny insurance would give us and now are looking at paying out of pocket to get additional days in the spinal cord injury rehab program at Gaylord. Any help from those that are able too would do more benefit for her than you could imagine.

Thank you so much to everyone who has reached out and even if she hasn’t responded to the messages she has seen them and it has helped her knowing everyone is thinking of her.