Spokane Valley bull rider starts long haul to recovery after a rodeo fall, broken neck

[mahatmakanejeeves]

NEWS

Spokane Valley bull rider starts long haul to recovery after a rodeo fall, broken neck

Sept. 11, 2022 | Updated Mon., Sept. 12, 2022 at 8:40 p.m.



Connor “Hubba” Hagerty visits with his son, Ryder Hagerty, 14 months, as he works with recreational therapist Sara Bryant at Providence St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Medical Center on Wednesday. Hagerty, 24, had finished an 87-point bull ride to win an Aug. 19 event at a rodeo in Cusick, when the Spokane man broke his neck as he tried to dismount from the animal and flipped onto his head. He was taken by Life Flight to Sacred Heart, and had surgery early the next morning for crushed vertebrae. (COLIN MULVANY/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)

By Treva Lind
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At a Friday night peak event, Connor “Hubba” Hagerty held on for 8 seconds with a high score for a win in the Aug. 19 bull-riding contest at the Pend Oreille County Fair & Rodeo. When Hagerty moved to get off the bull, that’s when everything went horribly wrong. ... The Spokane Valley man, 24, fell backwards and hit his head directly on the ground, breaking his neck. Transported from Cusick, Washington, to the Newport Hospital, then from there by Life Flight to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, he had an early morning emergency surgery to restore the crushed vertebrae. ... Transferred about a week ago to the Providence St. Luke’s Rehabilitation center, Hagerty said he’s regained some movement in feet, legs and arms, but doctors expect a long recovery. His family set up a now completed GoFundMe, raising $25,500.

Hagerty, who has a 14-month-old son, Ryder, said his rodeo days are over. ... “I will never get on another bull again,” said Hagerty, while in the hospital Aug. 30. “I have my baby, and I love rodeo, but the risk isn’t worth it anymore now that I have a baby. I want to see him grow up and be the dad he really needs.” ... He’s done rodeo from a young age, and Hagerty also worked Monday through Friday at a granite shop as a lead granite installer, overseeing a crew for residential jobs. It’s too soon to know when he can return to that work, he said.

Dr. David Gruber, neurosurgeon with Inland Neurosurgery and Spine, performed Hagerty’s surgery at Sacred Heart. ... “That was actually a heavy weekend of rodeo injuries for us, and he was among them,” Gruber said. “He was riding a bull, was thrown off and he landed on his head. ... “What happens in a situation like that is if you can think of a sudden, compressive load applied to your neck, similar to the way an accordion is closed, that’s what happens here. There are seven vertebrae in the neck and he actually exploded his fifth vertebra, and he herniated the discs just above and below that vertebra – so the C4-5 disc and the C5-6 disc – and that pushed back in and bruised his spinal cord.”

Between the accident and the arrival to Sacred Heart, Hagerty had what’s called an incomplete spinal cord injury. In the fall, Hagerty was partially paralyzed. Gruber said Hagerty’s surgery involved a vertebrectomy and a fusion extending from the C4-5 cervical vertebra disc space through the C5-6 disc space. ... “Because the vertebrae has been shattered so badly, it now has no structural viability, so you end up having to drill out the vertebra and you have to insert a special device that is made of titanium that actually expands up to the C4 vertebra, and it grabs the C4 vertebra, and it expands down to the C6 vertebra and it grabs that,” Gruber said. “Basically, it restores that structural integrity that had been lost by the fracture.” ... There are categories for spinal cord injuries, Gruber added. “When someone is completely paralyzed and they have no sensation below that level of injury, that’s what we call a complete spinal cord injury. His was not complete, so that’s the rationale for proceeding with surgery as soon as you can.” ... Within days of surgery, Hagerty’s movement in arms became much more significant. He still had weakness in his grip. He also started to have more movement in his legs before he left the hospital, but was not able to get upright or be ambulatory. That goal will be work done at St. Luke’s, and Gruber thinks it will be a long haul.

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[EYESORE 9001]

1. How tragic

Ironic that his injuries occurred during a task as mundane as dismounting, when everything else about his job involved hanging onto an angry bull.

[2naSalit]

2. That guy is SOOOOO LUCKY!

Damn right his rodeo days are done. He might have thought about his kid and the risk before he got on that bull.

The bills will bill endless. That he can even feel anything in his extremities is amazing considering the fall he took. The extent of injury to the actual spinal cord is what seems to matter most. He's really lucky that he has a chance at being ambulatory at all, and it will take a long time in rehab and probable subsequent surgeries.

I have known a number of rodeo guys and I just think it's such a crock of shit. The older ones live in pain with broken bodies, the young ones think they are invincible and most are asshole narcissists, and it's all about testosterone and dominance over another species or three.

I will not shed a tear when that bullshit "sport" enters the dustbin of bad ideas.

[jimfields33]

3. Many many professions are dangerous

He did what he loved. Sadly he has a long recovery. Many professions cause deaths. He got lucky.

[2naSalit]

5. It's a needless...

Stupid and inhumane sport, pro or not. It has no redeeming qualities. If you want to know where rumpism thrives, it's in that community and its environs.

They might call it a job but it's a stupid relic of the past that needs to die a sudden and complete death.

[samnsara]

4. ok this is why women dont get on a bull and try to ride it...

[2naSalit]

6. +1