An Australian bull rider has suffered life-threatening injuries after being thrown and trampled on at the College National Finals Rodeo in the United States.
Bradie Gray, 20, from Hallsville near Tamworth in northern NSW, was in critical condition but improving, according to his family and coach who were at his bedside at Wyoming Medical Center in Casper on Friday.
Gray suffered broken ribs, a bruised aorta and collapsed lungs the previous evening at the Casper Events Center, Odessa College coach C.J. Aragon told the Casper Star-Tribune.
"Just come out from seeing Bradie. He is starting to improve and woke when we were in there," said his father, Mick Gray.
"He tried to talk but couldn't with the ventilator in - that will stay in for a few days to help him breathe. He wiggled his fingers and toes (and) even wanted to write something down on a piece of paper but was too weak."
Gray had no pulse when he arrived at the hospital, where he was placed in a medically-induced coma and on a ventilator, Aragon said.
The young rider was bucked off Frontier Rodeo's Levi the Boss and the bull stepped on his chest.
Able to stand, he was then pulled into a bucking chute where he was put on a backboard and taken away by ambulance.
"His blood pressure is good now and holding by itself," Mick Gray said.
"He has many broken ribs, a punctured lung and bruising around the heart.
"The support that we have received has been truly amazing, there are to many to thank individually. I want everyone to know how much we appreciate it.
"Bradie is an amazing young man and I thought we had lost him last night. It was touch and go for while but someone up there was looking out for him."
Gray, a junior at the college in Odessa, Texas, told the Star-Tribune on Tuesday he was coming off the fifth serious injury of his college rodeo career.
He suffered a broken back as a freshman, twice broke his jaw, suffered a torn groin and earlier this year broke a collarbone. All the injuries occurred from bull riding.
He said he had ridden just one practice bull in preparation for the College National Finals as he recovered from shoulder surgery about six weeks ago.
"I try to ignore it all and just have fun," he said.
Gray has been riding bulls since he was five. He entered the finals as 152nd-ranked rider in the world.
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