HOUSTON – Six weeks after suffering a severe spinal cord injury when a bucking horse fell on top of him, Wyoming bareback rider J.R. Vezain continues to receive plenty of support from the rodeo community.
A GoFundMe page was set up the day after Vezain’s Sept. 22 accident and raised more than $77,000 by the beginning of November. Now, the PRCA has stepped in, donating a National Finals Rodeo package at www.32auctions.com.
The package includes two NFR Gold Buckle seats for the 10th-night performance on Saturday, Dec. 15; two nights stay at the MGM Grand resort; and a handful of promotional gifts.
You can bid on the item here until Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. MDT.
Vezain, who lives just outside Melstone with his wife Shelby, has been rehabilitating in Houston since suffering his injury in Pasadena, Texas. He was recently moved to the TIRR Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation and Research Center to increase his rehab schedule after undergoing surgery to repair fractures in his T9 and T10 vertebra.
Vezain qualified for his sixth NFR this season but will not be able to compete.
“I have a peace about it,” he recently said in an interview with The Fence Post. “I know God has a bigger plan than the NFR. I’m blessed to have the career I did have. I want to be an inspiration for some young up-and-comers that would fill my shoes.”
