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Just back from my weekly hospital vigil, we are 110 miles south of OSU burn center.

We have 100 acres & cattle. On Oct. 25th we were building a gate between us & the neighbor, easier to chase cows through a gate than take fence down. We needed to plant some posts & it was a nice day. She wanted to string wire across a water gully in a pasture we had some new, small calves in first. I went her way. Part way down a hill, she wanted to stop & cut a wild a rose bush out of the fence line, a common occurance. She got out of the big tool box which is mounted on the back of the tractor and walked over to the fence 10 ft away. The tool box had slid on it mounting & I went to back up to reposition it, killed the engine. While I was getting it restarted, she shouted that she didnt think she could move the box & I told her I knew she couldnt. By the time I had re-started the engine, she had come over behind my right shoulder &, unknown to me, sat on the ground to push the box, I didnt look back as I knew what needed to happen to the box. I backed up, the wheel spun & pulled her legs under it. When I did see her she was under the tire & it was tearing her clothes off. By the time I got it stopped, she had been thrown 6ft out to the side & her left foot was dangling backwards.

I had to drive that agnoizingly slow tractor almost a mile back to the house to call the 911 folks & get the truck. When I got back to her, a county water meter reader happened to go by & I managed to get his attention. He helped me put her into the truck. We met the EMS folks about 2 miles toward town. They had her Life-Flited to Riverside in Cols.. They amputated her left leg just below the knee after 7-8 days of trying to save it. All the surface flesh on the right leg is gone........only muscle & tendons remain along with an undamaged foot. The folks at OSU put some artificial skin over that & will graft her skin on Friday. If all goes well, takes about 2 weeks to tell, she will start many months of physical re-hab........... We will have to start our lives over again.........me at 73. I doubt I can care for her for many more years. Dont know what she will do after I am gone. PJHeck
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