WEST, Texas (KWTX) – A West native is making a miraculous recovery and is now in the hospital after being trampled by a bull while helping at a rodeo over the weekend.

Austin Patterson grew up on rodeo and always loved bull riding and has done so most of his life.

Austin had a bull riding accident in 2019 that broke his neck, ending his bull riding career, according to his fiancée, Megan Shoonmaker.

“Doctors told him that if he rode a bull again and fell, even the slightest mistake would paralyze or kill him,” he explained.

But that didn’t stop him from being there for what he loved; now he raises and trains bulls and helps other riders.

“He’s one of those kind of guys who is always helpful at all our events with bull riding deals,” says Sonny Barthold, a good friend of the Austins in the bull riding community.

That’s what he did last Saturday when things suddenly took a turn for the worse.

“We really just went to watch, but Austin being Austin, of course you know, they saw they were trying to get a bull in the front row and they felt like he had to jump in, so he jumped in and…it just kind of went south from there.” Shoonmaker shared.

Cody and Heather South have known Austin for years and share their story when they finally got to see him after the accident.

“He stepped, he slipped and the bull just kind of dodged him, you know once he gets under it, it’s hard to get out of there,” Cody South said.

Shoonmaker and another friend rushed him to the hospital, where they later learned he had 5 broken ribs, a broken sternum, and a pelvis, a collapsed lung, and a ruptured liver.

“When I was talking to Austin, he said he’d never felt like he was going to die before and that’s how he felt that night, which is a really scary thought,” she recalled.

But thanks to the encouragement of his doctors, as well as family and friends, Austin made an incredible recovery.

“I had to check on him and… I picked him up and walked him out,” Cody South said. And as soon as he leaves the hospital, he will walk directly to the altar.

According to Shoonmaker, “The first thing he said to us in the emergency room when they wanted to take him to the ICU was that I couldn’t go there, my wedding was on Saturday.”

But Austin still has a long road ahead; so Barthold decided to start the Austin Patterson benefit auction on Facebook for bull breeders.

“He’s not going to be going to work as much as he’s used to, and you know, we want to keep up with his bills,” Barthold said. “We have such a strong group of people… they are ready, so we are ready to help him.”

He says they’ve already raised over $60,000 and are currently in the third and final round, which will end at eight o’clock tomorrow night.

You can click Here to go to the page. Barthold says his auctions include 4 world champion bulls, including the “big bank” bull bred in the West by Pistol Robinson.

“I’ve told Sonny several times, there are no words to describe how thankful and appreciative we are,” Austin’s fiancee and soon-to-be wife said.

There is also one Go Fund Me He made arrangements to support Austin while he focused on recovery.

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