BACK IN THE SADDLE

Back in the Saddle

    Unlike a lot of people, when Jamie Knop asks you how you’re doing, she really means it.  She is one of those rare people that everyone instantly likes when they meet her for the first time. Her warm personality and caring attitude makes it seem like you’ve known her forever.

   Jamie and I have been friends for several years now. She does the receiving for a local warehouse so I get to talk to her a couple of times a week when I deliver there. Two years ago she told me she had been diagnosed with colon cancer. I was absolutely stunned. I never really gave cancer a second thought. I assumed it was a disease only very elderly people got. Jamie was only 43 years old. How in the world could a woman so young have this terrible disease? I soon learned that cancer could care less how old you are. The battle lines were drawn and Jamie was about to embark on a two year struggle to save her life.

    She had several things working in her favor. Her physical condition was excellent due to working in the warehouse eight hours a day. Riding and caring for the horses at her ranch in Miami County, Kansas several hours a day had built up her patience and endurance over the years. Plenty of friends, her faith, a loving family and a positive outlook would be huge allies in her upcoming battle.

  Colon surgery normally takes about an hour and a half. Jamies took four and a half hours. Over two feet of her large intestine was removed. It was eight long weeks before she could return to work. Chemo treatments would be next step. This was always performed on Mondays. Due to the affects of this treatment she would have to take off every Tuesday from work to rest. Wednesday morning would find her back at work where she would finish out the week.

   I know how chemo can completely exhaust a person so I asked Jamie how she managed to drag herself out of bed each day when she was so tired and sick. “My horses were the biggest reason I got out of bed each morning” was her answer. “They needed me and I needed them”

   The alarm clock signals the start of each day for Jamie at the ridiculous hour of 3 AM. Many times she lay in bed as the irritating little time machine insisted that she get up. A well placed hand would silence it. She would lay there in the darkness hurting from her head to her toes pondering why she should even get up. It would be so easy to just stay in bed and give up the fight. A few minutes would pass and like clock work the familiar noise of the feed buckets being clanged around by 16 horses just outside her front door would remind her why she would once again pull her aching body out of bed.  

   I spend a lot of time in the country fishing and hunting but know about as much about horses as I do brain surgery. Jamie invited me down to the ranch she runs for John Duckworth so I could see first hand what keeps her going.

  A few miles outside the sleepy little town of Fontana my granddaughter, Kelly Clopton spotted the white pipe fence we were watching for as we drove down the narrow two lane highway. “There’s the red barn were looking for grandpa” Kelly yelled out as I slowed the car down. With eyes as sharp as an eagle, this beautiful little girl doesn’t miss anything. As I shut the heavy steel gate behind me and got back in the car, I could see Jamie’s house across the valley about a quarter of a mile away. Acres and acres of pasture land surrounded it with heavy timber bordering the edges. A good size pond nudged up to the red barn with a big sign telling us that this was the JD Spur ranch. A Purina feed sign and a root cellar complete with an old fashion pump for water verified that we were indeed in the country.

   Jamie told us to come on in and make ourselves at home while she started a pot of coffee. As the aroma began to fill the kitchen I looked around the room. A perfect fit I thought as I noticed all the horse photos, saddles, bridles and knickknacks. This house and this woman were made for each other. A fantastic iron horse head that John made for her a few months ago sat on a wood table that had spurs branded into it. Jamie is an ex barrel racing champion and countless photos of her in the heat of competition filled the hallway. When I asked questions about various photos, you wouldn’t have thought she was even in the picture as she only talked about each particular horse and how great they were.

   By now, Kelly had become quite bored with all the talk and went outside to check out the barn next to the house. We went to look for her and found her high up in the loft playing with some cats in the hay. Jamie showed me the feed room and the tack room. Everything was very clean and orderly. We stepped outside into the windy cold morning air. Jamie took a deep breath and said, “Do you smell that wonderful clean county air”? “That’s why I live here and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world”.

   We couldn’t have been outside for more that a couple of minutes when the first horse spotted Jamie. Within another minute all the other horses came running up to her, each one trying its best to push the others out of the way so they could get their fair share of her love. You would have thought they were groupies surrounding a rock star. She knows each horses name and age and any physical problems they might have.  As she strokes each of them she looks them over from top to bottom for any potential health problems.

   The JD Spur is a retirement ranch for horses with the oldest being well over forty. Other than Jamie’s own five horses, the others are never rode. They live out their remaining years running free over 80 acres of beautiful pastures. They get fed at four in the morning and again in the evening.  Special little treats of apples, carrots and apple cookies are given out on a regular basis.

  A typical day is nearly 18 hours long for this hard working woman. Running a ranch plus holding down a full time job and dealing with cancer would bring most people to their knees but not Jamie Knop. I’ve never heard her complain one single time. She lives life to the fullest. Her doctors have recently told her that the cancer is now in remission. She has begun training her youngest horse so she can start competing for another championship in barrel racing. After spending a few hours with her, it’s easy to see why she has so many friends.

I’m proud to say that I’m one of them.