Hi! My name is Brandie, single mom of daughter DD a preteen going on 30... Anyhow, we live in Florida but we moved here from North Carolina about 7 years ago. Life here has definitely been an experience to remember. The past two years has seemed as if we were in a movie... So, beginning April 2019 the picture of our life was..... Me 35 years old, single mom with no previous marriages but was currently at the time engaged to an older guy scheduled to be married the early the following month. My previous job of 7 years sales and marketing manager at a local chestnut farm has ended December 2018 due to economical changes. So I was working training horses and picking up side work in other skilled areas when available. I was boarding my own 2 horses at a low class farm and performing my training work there also. Life was good, not perfect, but good.... Then, April 29, 2019 everything changed in a few minutes. My friend whom is very experienced with equestrians came to the farm to evaluate a problematic mare I was in the process of breaking a few bad habits with. The complaint for the mare was that she like to bolt through fences and any other objects within her path. Also, each time I would tie her by halter to the post she would panic and throw herself on the ground cause her to choke from pressure of the halter. We arrived at the farm that day early after noon and saddled her and carried on to the open riding area (open pasture). We had a basic bridle and bit set on her as she was broke to ride and used to the gear. I mounted and asked her to move forward but in return she reared up causing me to tumble off. I fussed at her a little and we discussed the mare chewing at the bit in her mouth. Assuming her mouth was sore from the training sessions in the previous days, we decided to use a bit free headstall (hackamore). Unfortunately, we were unable to locate one available at the time. Therefor, we choose a heavier bit thinking that the weight would help prevent the desire to constantly play with it. Millie and I put on the new headstall and I mounted into the saddle again. I asked the mare to move forward once again....... She reared in a completed vertical stance and beginning to step her hooves to keep balance. As I could feel her imbalance I was struggling to free my boots from the stirrups. She continued over backwards in a back handspring motion with me still in the saddle. As we came down we caught a dead tree in which the mare rode me down to the ground. Luckily the dead tree prevented her from rolling over to regain her stance. Instead I was caught in the open triangle between the horse, the ground, and the tree. The mare returned her upward stance and awaited my response. In complete shock and slight pain I could not force myself to stand or guarantee a stable condition. I began immediate disbursements of internal blood in large amounts. Of Course, this led to all the emergency response systems and so on... I will skip the fun details... I was granted with a fast track flight to the nearest city hospital about an hour car travels time. Of course, I expected a result of ewww, ahhhh, oh my from the medical teams.... a little bit of fussing from the doctor about dangerous activities during mid age, and a possible surgery. The normal uh oh emergency stuff, where I get to yea yea and return home with a "that wasn't so bad" ego. However, that is not the situation that took place. Instead, it was everyone in tears panicked and the doctor saying they didn't expect me to make it and my family and friends should be called in.... ???? The horn of the saddle had landed and pushed into my abdomen area and severed the main artery to my kidney, The internal bleeding was too intense and they could not see exactly where the opening was to stop it. It was up to my body and faith for me to live and the bleeding to stop on its own. To cut this down a little, I survived, someone was looking out for me. Two weeks later I got married as scheduled. I had lost 20 pounds so we stiched up my dress as I was rushing to the entrance of the isle. At the time I felt sore but thought I was in the clear. My kidney was dying they said but I couldn't really tell, Its a raisin now so GONE>RAISIN same thing right? So 35 years old first marriage, one kidney, feeling revived and ready to skip down the next sunny path of life. Yep..... Nope. not feeling so great, weak, in the bed alot, health insurance dropped because of new marriage status.... and husband leaves! AHHH!!! Yep I changed hes not happy hes gotta go. My bestfriend, sister, daughters godmother steps in takes care of DD, brings life back into our home, takes care of mom, and holds us all together. By the time, (3 months later) I get health insurance and went back to the hospital I was nearly dead again. All levels low, potassium, sugar, proteins, and any other living requirements. Blood pressure extremely high. So a couple weeks stay in the hospital and a few doctors visits and things were back on track. It took about a year to fully recover and be able to function as myself again. The husband came back a few times pretending to be prince charming here to save the day, until his jet packed leaving personality would come back and he would go again. Each time leaving me and my daughter with past due bills and a mess to clean up. But DD didn't let him go through any of his trips home smoothly, cause she kept up with him. My baby grew up during this trying time. She now is a who, what, when, where, and why type of girl. She has learned to keep up with what is going on in life to help prevent what can go wrong. She has been a true soldier and my number one fan through it all.. Thanks for reading..... Our fundraisers will each explain what they are for and how they came about.... Each of them target this story of our lives...