Michaels Story: By Shannon Johnson. When I first heard of Michael Rogers’ story a year ago about his wish to becoming a cowboy, my husband and I had our hearts tugged at. I knew I had to meet this young man. So we collected some things a cowboy needed and off to West Texas I went. What an amazing and loving family. Michael has a special spirit that I can only describe is Heaven sent. His gentleness and humbleness is something I can’t forget. I have followed his story like many of us have. We all prayed for Michael during his ER visits, we all got excited when he roped his first steer and we all learned a huge lesson on giving with your heart when Michael gave a horse to a partially wheelchair bound boy that lost his own horse a year ago. The horse he gave away was a horse he was learning to train to resell so he had money to take care of JW, his 28 year old cowpony that needs vet care and special feed. He said he learned through the cowboys and cowgirls he has met about giving something and not expecting anything in return. Michael wanted to be a true cowboy and off he went to deliver the horse to this young boy. Parting words to this boy, “Maybe we can ride together at therapy sometime.” Last week someone cut the lock on their horse trailer and stole everything out of it and stole both the horses in the middle of the night. They found the horses and two saddles a few miles from the house. JW was drenched in sweat, marks all over him, swollen knee, knot on his neck and crippled. JW, Michael’s cowhorse, had some feet issues before this and Michael has been soaking his foot. It looks like the horses were beaten and ran to death. Both horses are still dramatized. Michael is the only one that can pet and rub on JW now. You could walk up and catch either horse easily prior to the theft. Let me explain how important JW is to Michael. This horse is his best friend. They have a bond beyond most people’s comprehension. JW keeps Michael from giving up. This horse is his lifeline. I called Jamie and started asking a lot of personal questions. Jamie has never led on that there are more issues in her life. She always sounds positive and thankful. I was blown away as I got a lot of answers to some tuff questions. Once again my heart is being tugged on and my cowgirl mentality is getting gritty. Michael’s health is hanging in the balance.( In God’s hands, though.) He has a medical condition where his body rejects anything foreign in his body. His mother, Jamie, has the same condition. Her body rejects her children in her womb. Michael was a preemie. He underwent surgery for reconstruction of his esophagus. His body is rejecting it and it’s slowly dying. Michael’s heart is also weak and getting weaker. He goes August 1st to the cardiologist to see if his heart is strong enough to take the trip to Ohio for a 13 hr surgery to once again reconstruct his esophagus. Doctors just want the best quality of life for him at this time. Jamie had a second son. Once again her body rejected it. When it was born he didn’t live very long. Aaron is in Heaven and Michael talks of him with a heart of gold. Jamie couldn’t bear to lose another child so she took several precautions for birth control including a tubal litigation. While still in the mourning process she got pregnant with twin boys. She wasn’t supposed to be able to get pregnant. She carried them to 28 weeks. Sam and Luke will be 2 years old in October. I got to love on these sweet boys when I was there. I never knew of their health issues. But I asked this time. Both boys are marked as “failure to thrive.” They aren’t gaining weight like they should and are delayed in there progress of growing. They eat all the time but have a hard time understanding to swallow. Here is the kicker. Jamie has a 13 year old son terminally ill, twins that are said to be failing to thrive and mom has complications to her health which she would not indulge in with me. She can’t get insurance for herself, one twin has partial insurance and Michael has partial insurance. She can’t get food stamps or Medicaid. Michael’s insurance will not cover surgery in Ohio. The state has not tracked down Michael’s father for help, so no child support. The Ronald McDonald house is not free. If your insurance doesn’t cover $75 a day, its $25 a day out of pocket and you must help clean the house for the rest of it. Michael’s last round of meds was $700. So car payments have not been made in 2 months and she is fixin to lose her vehicle. Back when Michael was a baby Jamie was a nurse making decent money but she had to go home to care for her son with all the hospital and doctors visits. Just recently SSI went back several years and realized they paid her too much money because of her income and is now taking over $250 out of his check until it is paid back in full. Even back then she couldn’t get insurance for Michael because he was terminal. The twins daddy is there helping all he can but something happened he knew nothing of from many years ago and his check is being garnished and any bonus’s are being taken. Even an attorney friend of theirs is scratching his head how this could happen. And to really get me steaming!!! Listen to this. Any money donated or raised for this family counts as income and will dramatically decrease what little help they are getting through disability. ARE YOU SERIOUS? The medical bills are astronomical. The only way she can get help for the twins is to take them to ER because there doctor won’t see them till she gets their bills paid. This is no longer the Michael Rogers story; it’s a story of a family trying their best to survive and falling in the cracks of our nation. Their faith in the Lord is strong and the lessons she teaches her sons are priceless. She has taught the boys to love, forgive and give from their heart. Jamie didn’t come to me for help. I went to her and wanted the whole story. This is me reaching out to the cowboy/rancher community. I know Jamie isn’t a rancher’s wife but she is a mother to a 13 year old cowboy. He is true to his faith and true to the cowboy culture. Michael Rogers is a “Cowboy” in ever sense of the word. He has earned it. Cowboy’s wife, Shannon Johnson 7/30/13 This message was okayed to publish by Jamie Rogers on this date.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 04:21:11 +0000
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