ProRodeo Sports News - May 29, 2020

about a kid or someone seeing something they want and setting your mind to do it.” Akin’s bull riding career was cut short when the bull Dick Dasterdly crushed the left side of Akin’s skull during the 2007 Southeastern Livestock Exposition and Rodeo in Montgomery, Ala. Akin nearly lost his life. “I have absolutely no recollection of the accident,” said Akin, who communicated with ProRodeo Sport News via instant messaging because it was easier for him due to the injury. “I was in a coma for several weeks. When I woke up, I remembered next to nothing. I was in ICU for almost two months. I still haven’t regained a lot of my memory. I still struggle. It’s not easy at all.” Rehabilitation was a long process, including Bal-A-Vis-XTherapy in 2008 to help his brain form new neural pathways through a series of exercises rooted in rhythm. “It was very extensive,” Akin said. “I went to therapy for several years and don’t remember most of it. And you know what, up until four years ago I couldn’t read, tell time, order for myself in a restaurant, talk in sentences … so many things. It’s been tough since the day I came home from the hospital, and it’s still tough to this day, but I really try to keep a positive outlook and not let my limitations get me down.” Through it all he never doubted he’d recover. And Littlejohn was in his corner. “I just always knew that I was going to ‘get better’ and that God was not finished with me yet, nor is he now,” Akin said. “He (Littlejohn) has been one my greatest advocates. Going through an injury like I did, you really find out who your true friends are.” A NEW LIFE Akin met his future wife, Melissa Parsons, in 1999 when she designed his website. “Being honest, Lee always stayed in touch with me and my family, even when he probably shouldn’t have,” said Melissa, who also communicated via instant messaging. “Our hearts always belonged to each other.” Akin had originally bought a wedding ring in 2000 to propose to Melissa during the Chief Joseph (Ore.) Days rodeo, but that plan fell through due to issues with paying for the ring over the phone. “We continued dating, though, but he didn’t end up putting a ring on my finger until 2015,” Melissa said. “It was like we had never skipped a beat. What’s even cooler is that Lee has made more progress in his recovery in the four years that we have been back together than he had made in the years after his accident prior to us getting back together. “He was very stagnant and in a very bad place. I work in healthcare and have seen a lot of ‘attitudes’ and can say that Lee has the best attitude of anyone I’ve ever met. He is so humble and gracious. People have no idea how hard he works to continue to make improvements daily.” Akin lives in Middleton, Idaho, and helps care for a couple or ranches in the area, feeding livestock, doing irrigation, trapping gophers and spraying for weeds. “Melissa and I have made a great life,” Akin said. “We travel a lot and are always doing something outdoors.” Although he’s focused on the positive things in life, there’s really no substitute for bull riding. “I miss it,” Akin said. “I wish my career wouldn’t have ended the way it did, but I certainly had no control over that. I still love roller coasters, zip lining, rafting ... but they don’t even come close to giving the adrenaline rush that bull riding did. If you have any suggestions of any adrenaline-producing activities that I could add to my résumé, let me know, ha, ha.” A lot has changed for Akin since his accident 13 years ago, but he knows his story is far from over. “I wanted nothing to do with bull riding for several years after my accident,” Akin said. “I was bitter and grieving not only the abrupt end of my career, but all normalcy and life as I knew it. That has all changed now, though, and I would love to be more connected to rodeo, and I look forward to seeing what God has in store for me in that area.”

PRCA ProRodeo file photo ABOVE: Lee Akin overcame the odds and qualified for the National Finals Rodeo three times (1997, 2000 and 2001). BELOW: Akin poses with his wife, Melissa, who designed his website in 1999. Since their marriage in 2015, Akin has regained many of the abilities he’d lost in a bull riding accident in 2007.

Photo courtesy Lee Akin

ProRodeo Sports News 5/29/2020

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