LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Alex Doucet's love for horses started at an early age, and now she's been professionally riding horses, training them, and teaching others how to ride for more than a decade.
"I really can't imagine doing anything in life without a horse involved," Doucet said.
Until suddenly on March 6, 2024, that love came at a heavy cost. Alex experienced a horse accident after getting ready for closing time after a full day of training and riding.
"I was really getting ready to get on my last horse of the day, I went out to get her from the pasture and she whirled away from me and took off running and I just got in the crossfire of her back feet. She kicked me in my left side," Doucet described.
A freak accident morphed into a dire situation where Alex had to face the toughest obstacle ahead— fighting for her life.
"This is a life-changing event for people that aren't used to being sick and aren't used to being in the hospital, obviously right, it's trying for everyone," said Doctor Nolan Bruce, a trauma surgeon at UAMS.
Dr. Bruce was one of the many surgeons who performed major adnominal surgery on Alex.
"When she got here, she was unstable and they actually activated the trauma team, which means we sort of mount up and all come down here running and assess her. We found that she was unstable and had internal bleeding at that point in time, so we discussed with her the findings that we needed to take her to surgery urgently to stop the bleeding," Dr. Bruce explained.
He added that throughout this extensive process, he appreciates Alex's patience and resilience to want to get through this tough time.
"We have a whole system set up here to get people recovered from that stuff and get them to get them back out there to do the things that they love to get them back on that horse usually, I say that metaphorically, but in this case, very literally back on that horse," Dr. Bruce said.
Seven weeks later, Alex now has a change of scenery. Instead of staring at a hospital room, she returned to the best seat in the house— which, is on her farm.
"For such a split-second incident for it to have completely changed the course of my spring and life going forward was it was very rattling, but it's taught me a lot about myself and about my family," Doucet said.
Despite, the hardships she had to endure, Doucet said pain only lasts for a season, but her love for horses and the work she does for others lasts forever.
"I know how important all of this is to me, but also is to everybody around me and I really just wanted to be back as soon as possible. so, seven weeks later here we are," Doucet said.