Support pours in to bronc rider's family

By Christi Bertelson and Richard Zowie

Highland Lakes Newspapers

Following severe injuries sustained while saddle bronc riding in the Marble Falls Rodeo on Saturday, July 15, Bill Herbert will undergo surgery Tuesday, July 25, at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

Herbert was flipped from a bucking horse. He landed on his head, twisting and shoving his neck forward to break at the C3 and C4 vertebrae. He also sustained a torn and occluded artery going to the right side of his brain from the fall.

“He actually got up and walked away from the fall,” said his wife, Pamela Reese-Herbert. “He’s stable, but his spine’s unstable. He’s cognitive and fully functional. A lot of tendons and muscles in his neck were strained or torn. The doctors want them to be able to support his head again.”

Initially, officials took Herbert to a Temple hospital, where he was given aspirin, due to the torn artery and the high risk for a blood clot.

“They are worried about the artery that is occluded, because during surgery on his spine it could dislodge, sending a blood clot to his brain,” said Reese. “They are talking about giving him heavy blood thinners during the surgery on his vertebras, but that causes concerns as well. As of right now, I have been informed that there is no fix for the artery.”

Herbert was transferred to Dallas to be treated by a spine specialist. Doctors tentatively plan to operate on his broken neck on Tuesday, July 25, once the aspirin is gone from his system and his blood has made new platelets.

He’s now on heparin, an anti-coagulant designed to reduce the risk of blood clots.

“The doctors’ goal is to go in, take out a disc, put in a plate in front of his neck and a plate and screws in back,” Reese said. “That’ll stabilize his neck. If the artery starts to bleed during surgery, they’d be able to stop that. That’s good news for us.”

Currently, Herbert takes short walks in the hospital to keep the clots from happening. Among the doctors’ rules: no bending over, and no turning his neck.

Covering costs

A GoFundMe account has been set up for Herbert and his family at gofundme.com/medical-fund-for-bill-herbert. It will be used to help pay medical bills.

As of July 20, the account had raised $12,400 of the goal of $25,000.

Reese said she was surprised and touched by those helping her and her husband out, especially when a few months ago, she helped set up a similar account for her husband’s best friend (a cowboy whose injuries had put him into a coma).

“I help people out with my singing,” said Reese, who was on a radio tour during the incident and had to cancel the entire tour while her record is at the top 20 list of Texas Country Music. She also runs Highland Lakes Ranch Retreat at their ranch. “I was in position where I’d helped others and people now helped me. We’re so grateful. We say prayers every day. We don’t yet know what our situation will be financially.”

Reese described her husband’s health insurance as “limited” and said she was scheduled to meet July 20 with financial people to see what the cost will be.

Herbert spent four days in intensive care, and Reese said ICU generally costs $45,000 per day without insurance.

“No one really knows how long it will take, or when Bill will get out of the hospital, but we do know that when he does, he will have to wear a major neck brace for a substantial amount of time — along with needing a medical bed and other equipment implemented into our daily lives at home,” Reese said.

Herbert, not only married to Reese, is also known for being four-time Cowboy Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) Saddle Bronc champion, where he is currently in second place right now according to their website.

Herbert is also a three-time United Professional Rodeo Association (UPRA) Saddle Bronc champion, where he currently sits in third place right now according to their website.

Along with Saddle Bronc riding and being a father and husband Herbert currently works as a Tech 3 with the Texas Department of Transportation.

“We are getting through this one day at a time,” said Reese. “The girls know something is different this time with daddy, but I made it into a positive outlook for them. They want to know what the tubes and why daddy’s head is tied down, so we have gotten technical about it and Heidi wants to be a doctor so I tell her you have to learn how to do all of this to be a doctor.”

“The board is all praying for him,” said Mike Dyer, publicity and special events director for the Marble Falls Rodeo Association. “We really hope he gets better. We’ll probably do something for him, but haven’t decided what yet. Bill has been a mainstay in Marble Falls Rodeo for years, going back to youth rodeo. We’re all pulling for him and hoping for the best.”

Previous injuries

This isn’t the first time Herbert has sustained injuries in rodeo. He’s had broken ribs, broken collar bones and broken wrists. During college, his face was crushed by a bull. Doctors inserted a titanium plate into half of his face on the left side and secured it with screws around the eye socket.