KOBEN'S STORY

BORN TO BE A COWBOY

I was born and raised into a rodeo family in New Mexico. I lived there for about 18 years and then moved to Texas. From an early age, I was involved in the sport of rodeo, competing in jr. rodeos, high school rodeos, amateur rodeos, and open events, winning at all levels. My dad, a past Turquoise Circuit Champion Bull Rider, was my coach. By the time I was 12 years old, I had my sights set on making the PBR world finals. As soon as I turned 18, I began traveling to and competing in PBR qualifying events. By the fall of 2008, I had earned several thousand dollars, won 4 events, and made 4, 90-point rides, and I was well on my way to making the Built Ford Tough Series. However, on September 6, 2008, at the age of 19, my career was cut short by a life-altering spinal cord injury while competing in a PBR classic. Since then, the majority of my time has been spent on pursuing recovery. 

My Progress

 When I was initially released from Baylor hospital, the physical therapist pulled my dad aside and said, “You might as well get that boy to face reality. That’s all he’s ever going to have.” The picture attached with me reclining in a chair next to a horse depicts what I looked like about a year and a half post injury. This photo was taken after living in California for nine months, pursuing recovery, and I look far better than when I was released from Baylor. At this point, I did not have use of my right limb, it was a struggle to get my left hand to my mouth to eat anything, and I could not stay upright, so I was preparing to go live in Austin for six months where I would embark upon a stem cell procedure with a U.S. doctor. My first stem cell procedure in 2011 was in Cypress where doctors performed a bone marrow aspiration and laid my own adult stem cells in and around the injured side of my cervical five and six vertebrae. After this procedure, I regained stamina and slowly started getting movement in my right arm. During my time spent in California and Austin, I learned from some of the best spinal cord injury recovery specialists in the world. In 2012 and 2013, I now had a lack of funding, which was taking a toll on my mental capacity. This caused me to hit a roadblock and have a plateau in recovery. However, I overcame this setback and began holding my PBR event in 2014.

Up until 2015, I had not been able to lean forward off the back rest of my chair, but I can now do this on my own. I have drastically increased mobility in my right arm and core stability, and I can roll a manual wheelchair across level surfaces for great distances. I can now initiate movement with my upper body on the elliptical on my own which I was unable to up until September 2021. In 2015, standing became possible with only one person and a walker. Since I began assisted standing, I’ve been able to improve my standing time from a maximum of 10 minutes to 20 minutes or more, and my posture and ability to hold my hips forward has grown. In the last 4 years, I’ve been able to send a neurological signal to my glutes, hip flexors, and abs to create an active flexion. During the summer of 2020 I began using my lats to pull weight down with a cable column. In the last month I was able to work on taking my first fully assisted steps using the walker and initiating locking and unlocking my knees. My upper body strength has improved to the point now where I can drive! 

 I currently have a 12.5‘x 30’ space dedicated to my exercise therapy with specialized equipment, that I spend a lot of time in.  I raise funds for a nonprofit organization called the Press On Foundation, a nonprofit that my mother set up for me, which has my stem cell doctors as board members. I raise funds by hosting a Professional Bull Riders Touring Pro stop in Amarillo, Texas. This goes towards scholarships for exercise therapy in Austin, Texas, as well as helps me with exercise therapy expense in my home gym.

I also believe in a miracle working God!  While I cannot wait to see instant miracles, I will partner with my Heavenly Father by being a good steward of health and fitness and doing all I can to recover and help others along the way! 

My Event

 In 2014, I was inspired to get back involved in the sport I loved, by hosting a bull riding event in Amarillo, Texas. With the help of great friends and amazing sponsors, the event has grown every year since and was sanctioned by the PBR in 2015. This provided funding needed to return to Austin to continue stem cell procedures and resume therapy in my home gym with the help of college students. Since the start of my event, I have made great strides in my recovery and quality of life largely due to the support of my family and some close friends. In 2018, I outgrew my outdoor event, and with the help of Alltech in 2019, I got to go indoors for the first time. This year, with the help of Durrett Cattle Co., X- Steakhouse, and several other sponsors, in addition to Alltech, I have been fortunate enough to take my event to the next level by increasing the rider purse to $20,000. This means my event will be televised using the Pluto TV streaming platform, and the number of points earned at the event will double. Taking the event indoors almost doubled the crowd attendance, and by taking a survey we learned that the event had 1,650 people in attendance and raised $20,000 for the Press On Foundation in 2019. For comparison, the largest crowd in my outdoor event was 1,000 people and the largest amount of funds raised was $13,000. Due to Covid, the 2020 event was skipped, but my event came back stronger than ever in 2021 with over 2,100 people in attendance and $30,000 funds raised for the Press On Foundation. These funds immensely help myself and others in Austin continue therapy. Visit pressonfoundation.org to see scholarship recipients.

What’s New with Press On

 Adrian Moreno, one of the scholarship recipients, was able to receive enough funding by partnering with another nonprofit organization to match Press On funds. This covered a year’s worth of therapy expenses at the Spero recovery center in Austin. We are so excited for Adrian! 

We have recently added a young man named Garret Grant to our list of scholarship recipients. Garret, who is from Amarillo, Texas, is currently up at Craig hospital receiving treatment for a spinal cord injury. We are excited to find someone pursuing recovery in the Amarillo area.

My goal with my event is to reach full attendance capacity in the building and be able to help more people recovering from spinal cord injuries through the Press On Foundation. I hope to eventually move more support to the Amarillo area. I plan to continue bringing a quality bull riding event to Amarillo and taking care of the riders that compete in my event. These goals would not become reality, nor would they be possible without the help and support of so many people and my Heavenly Father. 

For myself “there’s no quit” until I’m fully independent, standing, and taking steps. 

Koben Puckett 

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