ProRodeo Sports News - February 9, 2018

Sure enough, Ashley did. Robbie Hodges, one of Justin’s closest friends and colleagues, would be in the barrel that weekend. Ashley called Hodges. For him, it wasn’t a matter of if, but when should he meet Michael. BEATINGTHE ODDS When Michael was born he had three holes in his heart and pulmonary hypertension. He had open heart surgery at 8 months. They thought that was going to fix everything, and it didn’t, Jolinda said. His life expectancy was five years. He’s on oxygen at night because of central sleep apnea, where the body essentially forgets to breathe, so the body’s oxygen levels decline. He has the help of a nurse at night. He also has an immune disorder that requires an IVIG transfusion every month to help him “have an immune system,” as Jolinda put it. In 2007, at the age of 12, Michael’s transfusion port got infected with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureaus, also known as MRSA, a staph infection that is resistant to antibiotics. Ultimately, it led to sepsis. He was on life- support for two weeks and given a 10 percent chance to live. It was serious enough that Jolinda, also a pediatric intensive care unit nurse, signed a do-not-resuscitate waiver. Somehow, Michael survived, but not without a toll. “He had to learn how to re-walk, had to be carried everywhere,” Jolinda said. “It was just incredible what happened to his body, but he made it through. He did 10 times better after that. He was more active. They assumed he would be wheelchair bound. He fought everything off and overcame so many odds in his life. “It’s just amazing to me, and he’s 22. He wasn’t supposed to be 5.” THEIR FIRST RODEO When Hodges found out Park City was Michael and Mikayla’s first rodeo, he had one response. “Well, all right, you’re going to get the good tour,” Hodges said. He introduced Michael to bull riders, bareback riders and saddle bronc riders. Each of them welcomed Michael, letting him climb on their saddles, letting him put on vests and helmets. “I was so proud for the humanity of our sport,” Hodges said. Mikayla kept Jolinda updated throughout the rodeo, texting pictures and video. “She was very excited to see him so excited about something,” Jolinda said. “The other thing that was impressive to her – and she’s intuitive about things – she said everyone was so nice to him. There’s a difference between nice and placating. They were truly nice and just treated him like a guy.” Hodges understood what Jolinda and other families with kids with disabilities endure. His children have had medical conditions that gave him a scare in the past. “When they send us to hospitals, I never turn down an opportunity to go there because I’ve been that parent with a kid there,” Hodges said. “… But we (clowns) can just walk out of that room and we’re done with it. …Those kids aren’t. When we leave, they have to keep coping with it.” RODEO CONTINUESTO RESONATE For Michael, the experience hasn’t ended. “After meeting Robbie, Saturday night, he (Robbie) is ‘my clown friend,’” Jolinda said. “That’s what he calls him.” The entire experience was something Michael and his mother will never forget. “The picture where Robbie has his arm around Michael and they are looking out into the arena, I can’t tell you what that does for me as a mother,” Jolinda said. “A lot of people shy away frommy son due to his disability. And to have somebody who’s never met him before showing him something like that, it’s like showing him the world. I don’t know how to explain it. It took my breath away.” The PRCA Championship Rodeo will be cherished in the Kelley household. So will those who helped make it happen. “Robbie and Ashley deserve kudos for what they did for him,” Jolinda said. “And everybody that spoke to him and gave him a high 5, shook his hand and didn’t shy away from him, for me, that means the world. He’s a super-cool kid if you just give him a chance.”

Michael Kelley, 22, tries out a saddle backstage at the PRCA Championsihp Rodeo in Park City, Kan., Jan. 27. Below, posing with Robbie Hodges. Photos courtesy Mikayla Kelley

ProRodeo Sports News 2/9/18

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