I wanted to post and make everyone aware of the situtation on Bess Chaney.....
Bess works on a ranch in the East Texas area and somehow fell from a retaining wall. As a result of the fall, Bess received a compression fracture in her neck. After conversations with Michele McLeod which is like family to Bess, her prognosis is very poor. She had some movement prior to surgery. They performed surgery and placed a rod in Bess's neck. After surgery, and due to some complications, she has had only involuntary sporadic movement in her right shoulder but outside of that, no signs of any movement and is paralyzed from the neck down. She is currently in ICU and has large amounts of swelling in her arms, hands and still swelling in her neck. They are waiting on the swelling to go down before making any definite prognosis on her future. She will be transferred, of course, to rehab where she will really need help and support from friends.
Bess doesn't have any family in the East Texas area outside of the people she was working for (which are very close to her). She is currently at ETMC in Tyler. She does not have any health insurance and at this time, I was informed they are selling her truck to help cover a few of the costs. She is of course, having different emotions as anyone would expect, when people have gone to see her. Michele informed me that people can email her and the nurses read the emails to Bess--which she has truly loved!! I will go on the website and list the steps for anyone that would like to email her! It doesn't matter if you know her or not....we all know that in the barrel racing world, we "cowgirl up" when someone is hurt or needs strength.
For those that don't know her, Bess just moved her a few years ago from California (that's how I've always understood it anyway) helping work on a ranch. She has frequented barrel races in Marshall and surrounding areas for a couple years now. There are several people that would know her if they saw her. She is a really quiet lady but EXTREMELY friendly and a wonderful person. She has always been a wonderful inspiration to me at the barrel races just by her positive outlook on things. She has a dark complexion, dark hair and you would always see her walking through the arena at Marshall with her red heeler that just loved attention (and any food you would give him!) For those that know people by what they ride (and you know we all do that), she rode the neatest little blood bay gelding that was as honest as the day is long! I don't think there was a time that went by that she didn't walk up and hug my neck!!! WONDERFUL PERSON!!!!
My request to everyone on ebarrelracing is to PPPLLLEEEASSSSEEE put Bess on your prayer list!!! I know doctors have good ideas but it is definitely in the hands of the Lord to have her walking or at least allow her some movement to where she can be somewhat independent!
I know there are talks of having fundraisers already in our area and as I get more information, I will keep everyone posted! I am also going to call and see about setting up a bank account for her for anyone that may want to make donations but not sure what all is involved--will post if I can get it done here. I know things are tight right now, fuel prices are through the roof but we are in far better situations than Bess is at the moment.
If anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to give me a call at 903.720.6421.
SHE NEEDS LOTS OF PRAYERS!!!!
