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Thursday, July 26, 2007

Teen Bull Rider In ICU

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
    Bull riding is a dangerous sport.
    That was dramatically reinforced July 15 at a rodeo in Oak Springs, Ariz., when 17-year-old Sky Chavez nearly lost his life.
    "He was trying to cowboy up, not ask for an ambulance," said his mother, Julia Chavez, who was not present when the accident occurred. "The boys (that were with him) flew him to Gallup in a truck. It's about 45 minutes from Gallup. He lost a kidney, his spleen and half his pancreas."
    "Then, they lifeguarded him, not in a helicopter but in a jet, to (University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque)," his mother said.
    Sky Chavez is a high school junior-to-be who studies out of the Estancia Valley Learning Center, an independent study facility. He was a member of the Moriarty and Estancia High School Rodeo Club, but he was competing as an individual at the Oak Springs event.
    Chavez, who lives with his family in the Moriarty area, had surgery July 16 at UNM. It was touch and go for a while, and as of Tuesday he was in the intensive care unit.
    "He's stable now," his mother said. "He's having a good day today (Tuesday). He's getting better now. We're taking it one day at a time."
    In addition, Chavez broke his back— not the main spine itself, according to Julia Chavez, but some of the spokes off the spine. He had to be put on a ventilator for several days.
    "His other kidney was bruised, too," said his mother, who said he is off the ventilator. "That was the big concern, the other kidney. But I talked to the kidney doctor (Tuesday), and he said it looked like it was going to be OK. I didn't want him to have to go on dialysis."
    The doctors found an old injury as well.
    "They told us he had broken his neck at one time, too," Julia Chavez said. "He never said anything to us."
    The roughstock in bull riding can weigh as much as 1,500 pounds or more.
    "The bull stepped on him," she said. "The bull was going up, and he went down, and the bull got him when it was going down. He always seems to draw the biggest bulls."
    Julia Chavez said her son is communicating well now.
    "Sometimes, he says weird things (because of the medications)," she said. "But he is talking now."
    Julia Chavez said the medical staff has told her that Sky will remain in ICU at least until today and possibly longer.
    "He has to be able to sit up," she said.
    Julia Chavez normally plays a sideline role in her family's rodeo avocation. One can see her cheering from the railings at local rodeos.
    Cayetano Chavez, Sky's father, acts as an arena official, and their daughter, Tiffany, is a barrel racer. The other family members also were not with Sky when he received his injuries.
    But in this crisis, Julia Chavez had to step up.
    "I've had to hold things together," she said. "It's my family, my little boy. My husband took it real hard. He never left my son's side. I was worried about him because he had a heart attack a few years ago."
    Sky's sister has been at the hospital with her brother as well. She did take a break to compete in the Galisteo rodeo last weekend.
    "She won the barrel racing for him on the first day (Saturday)," her mother said. "It was the best time she ever had, a 17.1 (seconds)."
    The family asks that folks hold off on further visits to the hospital at least until Sky gets out of ICU.
    "The rodeo kids, their parents and friends have been great," Julia Chavez said. "One time, there was 180 people in the waiting room. They brought us food, offered their prayers. We are very grateful."
    Don Martinez, the adult leader of the local high school rodeo club, said his cowboys and cowgirls will seek donations to help the Chavezes defray their son's hospitalization costs.
    "We're going to have a rodeo to benefit the family," Martinez said. "It will be the rodeo on Oct. 13 (at Heritage Arena) that's part of the Bean Fiesta.
    "At the rodeo, we'll have a donation box at the entrance— people can give what they can. And we'll probably have a 50-50 raffle."
    Donation boxes will be put at local businesses as well, Martinez said. For information, call Martinez at 307-0913.
    The benefit rodeo will have open bulls, junior bulls, steer riding, calf riding, mutton busting and barrel racing.
    Chilili bull-rider Dominic Coché, a recent Estancia High graduate, said Sky's injuries did make him pause.
    "But you know it's a dangerous sport," said Coché, who won Sunday's go-round in Galisteo. "You know the (possible) consequences."