WEST, Texas (KWTX/Gray News ) – A Texas man makes a miraculous recovery after being trampled by a bucking bull while helping out at a rodeo event.

Austin Patterson grew up in rodeos and has always enjoyed bull riding, as he has for most of his life.

According to his fiancee, Megan Shoonmaker, Patterson had to stop riding bulls in 2019 after breaking his neck while riding.

“The doctors pretty much told him if he got on a bull again and fell, even the slightest thing wrong, it would paralyze him or kill him,” she said.

But that didn’t stop him from being around what he loves, and he continued to raise and train contract bulls while helping other riders.

Sonny Barthold, a good friend of Patterson’s in the bull riding community, said he was always there to help others.

“He’s one of those guys who always helps everybody out at our events,” he said.

Patterson was doing just that on Nov. 2 when things suddenly took a turn for the worse.

“We just went to see Austin how Austin is, but they were struggling to put a bull in the lead, so he jumped and things kind of went south from there,” Shoonmaker said.

Cody and Heather South have known Patterson for years. They said he told them he just slipped that day and the bull ran over him.

“You know once you get down one, it’s hard to get out,” Cody South said.

Shoonmaker and another friend rushed him to the hospital, later learning that he had broken 5 ribs, his sternum and pelvis, a collapsed lung and a lacerated liver.

“Talking to Austin, he said he never felt like he was going to die before, but he felt like he was that night. It was really scary,” she said.

But thanks to his doctors and all the encouragement from family and friends, Patterson made an incredible recovery.

“The first thing he told us in the ER when they wanted to move him to the ICU was that he couldn’t go there because he had a wedding on Saturday,” Shoonmaker said.

However, Patterson still faces a long road to recovery, and Barthold has begun a the benefit of the auction to help him.

“He’s not going to get to work as much as he used to and you know we want to keep his bills paid for him,” Barthold said. “We have such a strong group of people. We are ready to help him.”

According to Barthold, they have already raised more than $60,000 with plans to raise more.

“I’ve told Sonny a few times, really, there are no words to describe how thankful and appreciative we are,” Shoonmaker said.

Loved ones also set up a GoFundMe to further assist Patterson.

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