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Steer wrestling wreck

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Liberty Belle

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I'd like to ask all of you to remember a wonderful young cowboy neighbor of ours in your prayers. Clint Doll, son of Doug and Janet Doll from Harding County, was terribly hurt in a steer wrestling wreck at the July 4th evening rodeo in Mandan.

As he came down off his dogging horse, the steer's horn smashed him in the eye, busting all the bones around his eye, knocking the eye out of the socket and tearing it, and sending bone fragments into his brain.

Clint was rushed to a hospital in Bismarck and stabilized, then taken by air ambulance to the University of Minnesota Med Center in Minneapolis for emergency surgery that lasted from 5:30 in the morning until just after 7:00 in the evening yesterday, July 5th.

The neurosurgeon is hopeful and doesn't think there will be much, if any, long term brain damage. The eye surgeon is not optimistic, but will give the repaired eye two weeks to recover and if it doesn't, he will remove the eye before the antibodies reacting to the injured eye attack his good eye and destroy it. The plastic surgeon had to not only rebuild Clint's eye socket and cheekbone, but he also had to fashion a replacement for the lower eyelid that was completely torn off and rebuild the tear ducts in both upper and lower lids.

Clint had a rough night after the surgery and is still heavily sedated. His parents, his rodeo buddy Brad Johnson, and some other friends are with him and neighbors out here are keeping an eye on the ranch. He is on every prayer list in this area, but we'd sure appreciate it if you would include Clint in your prayers too.
 
I just got off the phone with Clint's mother. He has regained consciousness and wants to get up but the doctors don't think he's ready for that yet. They did elevate the head of his bed a little and will keep cranking it up until he is sitting up. If he can handle that, they may try to help him stand up tomorrow.

The neurosurgeon says that his brain injury is good enough shape so he would be able to go home soon if it weren't for his eye injury. The eye surgeon isn't offering them much hope, but there is a very slim chance of retaining some vision.

Please keep praying for Clint because he's not out of danger yet, although things are looking a whole lot better today than they did a couple days ago.
 
He's in our thoughts and prayer's.
A couple of close calls in SW at the Calgary Stampede yesterday. It is more dangerous than many think.
 
Thanks for keeping us posted. I think I would be safe in saying all of Harding County is praying and many more.

Thanks again

Susan
 
I've shared your message with both my prayer chain and with others I know from around the world. We are praying that God will be merciful and that a full recovery can be made.
 
Thank you all for your prayers. They're working! Clint has been able to get up and was able to get a couple of bites of food down. If his brain doesn't develop infection in the next couple days, he may be able to leave the hospital but will have to stay close in Minneapolis until the eye surgeon is done with him.

It doesn't look like his eye is going to make it and the surgeon gave him all the options yesterday. If the eye doesn't die completely, he still won't be able to see more than light and dark with it and it looks terrible because it was split and sewn together in front. Clint has about decided to have them take it out and replace it with an artifical eye so he doesn't have to worry about the bad eye getting an infection that would destroy his good eye. If you know Clint, the last thing he's concerned about is how he looks, but he sure doesn't want to lose what he's got left.

Keep him in your prayers because if his temperature spikes or his terrible headaches get worse, that will mean he has a brain infection, which would be terrible news.
 
Here's the latest on our young neighbor. His mother called today to tell us that the eye doctor wants him to wait until Thursday before they decide to remove the eye after the swelling has had a chance to go down and some of the blood should be gone by then. He still isn't running a fever so the neurosurgeon is happy!

The doctors showed Clint and his parents the pictures of his face after the wreck. They were really hard to look at but his mom is keeping them in case they feel like complaining about what Clint has lost. After looking at the gruesome pix, it's plain to see that the fact that Clint is still alive with no brain damage is a miracle.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Goodpasture, I was surfing the web for a story about Clint's accident and came across what you posted. We really appreciate that!

For those of you who have no idea who this sweetheart of a cowboy is, click this link to read a story about Clint and the trailer that he and his dad built for him last winter. There's a good picture of him too.

http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2008/05/01/news/recent%20features/news53.txt
 
Clint just got the word yesterday that his damaged eye will have to be removed. He's scheduled for more tests Monday and the surgeon will decide when to do the surgery.

His parents are still in Minneapolis with him, his sister Stacy is competing in the National High School Rodeo Finals in New Mexico and his little sister Katie is celebrating her 16th birthday today alone on the ranch, eight miles from the nearest neighbors (us), while she and the neighbors try to keep up with all that needs to be done here.

Please pray for them all.
 
LB:

Thank you for the update, I only wish it were better news for Clint.

We've been praying for the Doll family. Lots of people asked how Clint, and the family were doing last night at the Timber Lake rodeo. This truly shows how strong and great of a family the Dolls are.

We'll continue to pray for them, and I certainly hope that Clint is able to overcome the huge challenge of only having one eye, with very little adverse affects. He is a strong enough young man that I'm sure he will conquer this challenge too.

Are you having a 16th birthday party for Katie? I hope she is able to have some fun today.

Again, thanks for the update.

Cheers---

TTB :wink:
 
This is Turtle Race weekend at Reva, so Katie and all the rest of us will be partying hearty while we cheer on the stampeding terrapins! Our oldest grand daughter drives up to the ranch to spend the night with Katie and they slept so well they didn't even notice the 90 mph winds that tore through here shortly after 1:00 this morning.
 
A good friend of ours,a bull rider greg used to travel the rodeo road with was goored by a bull in the eye at Calgary a number of yrs ago. He came through it really well,lost his eye like Clint will but does really well,hated the glass eye they tried to get him to wear but is quite cute in his eye patch. Prayers to Clint and hoping the outcome is as good as Curtis's.... :)
 
Here's a story about Clint and his family from this morning's Rapid City Journal:

Injured rodeo athlete to lose eye
Cowboy from Buffalo returns home Thursday
By Mary Garrigan, Journal staff Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Doctors at a Minneapolis hospital will remove steer wrestler Clint Doll's injured right eye on Wednesday, but the young rodeo cowboy's family said he was in good spirits and hoping to head home to Buffalo on Thursday.

Doll, 21, was terribly injured while competing in steer wrestling at a Mandan, N.D., rodeo on July 4.

"He said the steer just stopped, and threw its head up to the left. The horn went in right below his right eye, tore the eye open, crushed the eye socket and pushed bone fragments into his brain," his father, Doug Doll, said Monday from Minneapolis.

Doll underwent 14 hours of successful surgery on his brain and eye socket on July 5, but doctors held out little hope for saving the eye.

"If he'd been 51, they would have taken it right then, but they thought they'd give him every chance they could to save the eye," his father said. The threat of a condition called sympathetic opthalmia, in which trauma to one eye can threaten vision in the other, required them to remove the injured eye, he said. Full recovery is expected to take three to six months and Doll will eventually be fitted with a prosthetic eye.

The former captain of the Gillette College rodeo team embarked on a professional rodeo career just this year as a steer wrestler and calf roper. He recently earned enough money to qualify for the professional rodeo circuit, something that had always been his dream.

Doll hails from a long line of rodeo competitors, but his dream -- and his future in the sport -- is unknown right now, his father said.

"He doesn't know," his father said. "That's his decision to make. It's a very personal decision."

The Dolls are a rodeo family, and this accident won't change that, Doug Doll said. Their daughter, Stacy, competed in the National High School Finals Rodeo in Farmington, N.M., in the midst of her brother's medical crisis. Their youngest, Katie, is a sophomore at Harding County High School who also competes in goat tying, cattle cutting and barrel racing.

"This is something we've done for a lot of years. We've always been a rodeo family and we'll continue to be one," he said.

Doug and his wife, Janet, say they'll support whatever decision their son makes about heading back into the rodeo arena.

"I'm a realist. I realize that no matter what you do, there's always a risk of getting hurt," he said. "What you do in life is what defines you, and that's a decision that everybody has to make for themselves. Still, there's no back-up plan here. You've got one eye left."

Doll called Clint's accident a "relatively freak accident."

"I've been involved in rodeoing for 25 to 30 years, and I've never seen an accident like this. This may not happen again to anybody else for another 20 years, or it may happen again tomorrow."

Clint Doll may not know yet what his professional future holds, but he's certain of the love and support that has poured forth from friends and neighbors in Buffalo and from the larger rodeo community.

"It's just been tremendous," Doug Doll said of the support the family has received. "Neighbors have showed up and taken care of everything at the ranch so I could be up here. Some drove 14 hours to be here with us. People have been willing to do anything.

"This has really, really humbled me."

Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8424 or [email protected].

http://rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/07/30/news/top/doc488e9ef453661224640138.txt
 
Clint had the surgery to remove his damaged eye yesterday. It took longer than the doctors expected because they had to replace a muscle with one they borrowed from some where else. He needs the muscle to control the artifical eye that he will get later on.

Since the surgery was more extensive than planned, Clint is in a lot of pain and won't be able to get out of the hospital and head for the ranch today like he wanted to do. Sounds like he's looking at a lot longer process than he expected.

My husband and grand daughter helped fight a prairie fire on the south end of the Doll ranch yesterday that started when a neighbor's baler lost a bearing and set a bale on fire. Clint's sisters were both home and worried, but I told them to stay at the ranch and watch for fires there because the local fire fighters were taking care of this fire that was at least 10 miles from them around by the road and on the other side of the river.

Please keep the whole family in your prayers, this is a stressful time for all of them.
 
LB- we'll be praying for him....I hope the rest of his ordeal comes out good...

I've been going thru my own eye problems for the last week and a half which have been a pain in the rear :roll: .....

Last week I got hit in the eye with a bug while riding my 4 wheeler back from the field.. An infection sat into my eye (tear duct) and my face swelled way up- something thats happened before because I have a damaged tear duct that happened years ago when a bull tried to stick a horn in my eye....

The Doc gave me some prednisone and antibiotic eye drops on Friday- usually works but not this time...So over the weekend my eyelid and lip started drooping (couldn't even spit snuce)-Had to work cows Monday- so patched that eye to keep anymore dirt out of it- and didn't get into the Dr. til Tuesday...

First because of the drooping eyelid and lip on the one side he thought I had a stroke (which I knew I didn't)- but after all the tests decided I have Bells Palsey- which is essentially a damaged nerve to the facial muscles caused by the infection...So now I'm on a whole mess of meds- anti virals and antibiotics, prednisone, and whatever...
The only thing that I fear is that while usually this Bells Palsey goes away quite easily- sometimes the effects (drooping eyelid, drooping lip, etc) don't go away for weeks or months- sometimes even being permanent- depending upon how bad the nerve was damaged...

The pain in the eye is getting less and I think the infection is clearing up- still got the droopy left side of the face...

All from one damn little bug in the eye... :mad:
 

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