'We Kept Telling Him He Had To Fight' - Sundell's Mom Relives His Recovery

One of the most popular rodeo competitors going down the road today–the “Wild Man” Wade Sundell–is currently recovering in the Mission Hospital in San Juan Capistrano, California after a major injury during the Rancho Mission Viejo Rodeo. Sundell still has a long recovery ahead of him, but after spending over three weeks in the hospital, the reigning world champion bronc rider is on his way up. We spoke to Sundell’s mother, Laura Grieser, about the accident and her son’s recovery. Grieser helped us understand what happened in the chute, and the battle he went through in the hospital the get back to this point. A Lacerated Liver And A Reride OptionThe day was Saturday, August 24. Sundell was up at the the Rancho Mission Viejo Rodeo when a situation that has probably happened hundreds of times in his career arose: “The horse kind of squatted down in the chute,” said Grieser of The Cervi Brothers’ horse “Living The High Life”. No problem for an experienced bronc rider like Sundell and a seasoned horse, but from there, things weren’t exactly “run of the mill”. “When they opened the gate,” Grieser continued. “Wade got thrown against the swells and it kind of went up under his ribs a little bit. Then he double-grabbed, got bucked off, and he was wanting to know what his reride horse was.” Luckily, both the Justin Sportsmedicine Team and the Mission Hospital were on site and quickly assessed Sundell, asking him to communicate if he was feeling certain symptoms that would point to a larger issue. “Soon he couldn’t catch his breath in his chest and his blood pressure was dropping,” said Grieser. “So they said no, we need to get you to the hospital and get you checked out Three Surgeries And One Heck Of A FightSundell was taken to the Mission Hospital where it was discovered that he had internal injuries that had released two to three units of blood into his torso, but it could have been much worse. “He lacerated his liver, there’s an artery that comes from the liver and he was centimeters from severing that. If he would have severed that, they couldn’t have saved him,” said Grieser. “So he had a couple angels upstairs looking after him on that one.” From there, three surgeries quickly followed over a few days to repair the damage from the impact. The first surgery’s main goal was to stop the bleeding by packing Sundell full of medical sponges. The second surgery saw the sponges removed and new ones added to further assist with soaking up the internal bleeding, and then the third surgery was to remove the sponges and finally close Sundell back up. From there, Sundell was kept in a medically-induced coma for two weeks while his liver healed and a ventilator helped with his collapsed lung – partner Shelby Janssen, father Doug Sundell, and of course his mother by his side the whole time. Naturally, a mother would go through a lot of emotions watching her son in a hospital bed, even if that son is a grown man...MORE