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Sold to the highest bidder, and sold and sold…

Mar 31, 2007

Johnny Blazek said he cried. Tracy Blazek was so moved she had to leave the building.

They were watching as friends and family kept bidding and bidding and bidding for their son’s pig at the Kaufman County Junior Livestock Show auction this month. Someone bought it and then gave it back and the bidding started all over again. Then it happened again.

In the end, the pig brought in $11,500.

“I figured that out and it’s $48 a pound,” Mr. Blazek said.

Dalton Blazek

Just getting the pig in the ring was a triumph for Dalton, 13.

He is in daily therapy recovering from a catastrophic bull riding accident in January. He was thrown to the ground with such force it caused serious brain and brain stem injuries.

He was in a coma two weeks and awoke unable to move his right side. He still has nerve and muscle damage and lingering vision problems. But he can walk and is improving every day, his mother said.

“I cried with him just walking in the ring. Just to know he was walking in that ring,” Mrs. Blazek said.

His parents are pleased and thankful for his recovery, but are weighed down with medical bills. “I think it’s up to $450,000,” Mrs. Blazek said. They have insurance, still 20 percent of the total is overwhelming.

The money from the auction is welcome, not just because it will help pay the bills but because it represents such support from the community.

David Crawford, the agriculture teacher at Scurry-Rosser High School who has worked with Dalton and his sister, Cheyenne, said he knew the pig would bring a higher than normal amount.

“We usually give two $500 scholarships but we don’t really have any seniors involved in agriculture this year so we decided to use it for Dalton,” Mr. Crawford said.

The other donations were spontaneous.

“It was just people who saw this young man and wanted to help,” said County Pct. 2 Commissioner Ray Clark. He spent money donated by commissioners on the pig.

Dalton hopes to return to school soon. And he’d like to go back to bull riding.

His mother says an emphatic no. “Not while he’s living in my house.”

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