High school rodeo: Hafen set to complete miraculous comeback

Jade Hafen jumped off his horse after roping a calf only to have his knees buckle beneath him.

"That wasn't like him at all," said his mother, Kim Hafen. "He's quick, cat-like. He just got off the horse and fell down."

That's when his parents realized his complaints of weakness and fatigue were more than a case of too many teenage activities.

"I came around the corner in our house and he was sitting on the stairs," said Kim Hafen. "He said, 'Mom, I can't even walk up the stairs.'"

Within weeks, Jade Hafen went from an athletic, active rodeo athlete to almost completely paralyzed and gravely ill.

The Hafens' pediatrician sent them to the University Hospital where Dr. Gordon Smith quickly narrowed the options to either chronic demyelinating disease or Guillain-Barre syndrome, she said.

Basically, Jade Hafen's immune system attacked part of the peripheral nervous system, causing the weakness and eventually the paralysis.

Doctors treated him with plasmapheresis and high-dose immunoglobulin therapy, and he began a battle not just for the ability to walk but for his life.

"We've lost a son," said Kim Hafen of a farming accident that claimed the life of Jade Hafen's older brother, Max. "When you've lost a child, you know it can happen to you. They'd say, 'There is nothing you can do.' But as parents we always think we can do something."

As Jade Hafen battled for his life, he put aside any dreams of competing in rodeo in college.

"He didn't think he was ever going to walk again," said Kim Hafen. "He missed so much of the season, so many rodeos. He gave up scholarship opportunities because he was sick. … Everything just stopped. It was all about saving Jade."

Nine months after those first bouts of weakness, Jade Hafen is back in the saddle. Miraculously, the three-time qualifier for the National Finals Rodeo will ride in the Utah State Finals Rodeo this week, despite missing much of the season due to the illness and subsequent paralysis. He joins hundreds of other Utah teens hoping to earn state titles in events from barrel racing to steer wrestling to bull riding at the Wasatch County Rodeo Grounds in Heber City Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The top 10 in each event will compete in Saturday's championship round at 5 p.m.

Jade Hafen's chances of making the national time for the fourth time in four years are "slim," said his mom.

"People ask us what keeps Jade going," said his mom. "I think it's his big brother that keeps him going. He carries a picture of him in his bag."