Back in 1991, Dick was living on his Boulder ranch in the Amazon. He had retired from the Navy after serving around the world, including five tours of duty in Vietnam. And he had recently adopted a wild Mustang and had taken it to the Fairgrounds to saddle-break it.
Although he was alone that day, Dick felt comfortable continuing the horse’s long training process. At some point, though, the horse reared up, throwing Dick to the ground and stomping his upper torso. The most critical of his injuries was to his head, causing a stroke which put him in a coma. Unfortunately, the Fairgrounds were unoccupied that day; no one witnessed the accident, and Dick lay where he fell until the following day.
Finally, he was transported to the hospital, where his family was told he wouldn’t survive. For 30 days, he lay in a coma as doctors worked to treat his punctured lung and broken back as well as the head injury he had sustained. Miraculously, through medical intervention and his own stubborn determination, Dick managed to survive. He set out to relearn the simplest of life’s tasks.
