Hot News

1.22.2008

By Carol Kinsley
Staff Reporter

HARRINGTON, Del. — Ryan Odens was lucky to be alive after being ejected from his Chevy pick up as it barrel-rolled end over end on a trip from his home in Little Rock, Iowa, to Minnesota seven years ago.
Had it not been for a small grass fire, totally unrelated to the accident, he might not have been found by a bypasser before it was too late. But as he lay in intensive care, paralyzed from the chest down, came the bad news: He’d never walk again.
Ryan was no stranger to bad news. His mother had developed lung cancer, yet survived. When his father died in 1997, folks wondered if kids as young as Odens and his brother, then 20 and 19, would be able to manage a 1,100 acre farm.
But they could and did manage — not only the corn, soybeans and hay, but the 50 head of cattle and the small trucking business. They have help from their grandfather, who is “retired, but not really,” and their brother-in-law.
“All I wanted to do was to farm and carry on the family legacy,” Odens told farmers in Harrington, Del., for Delaware Ag Week. “How could I not be a farmer? It’s the best life I can imagine.”
Odens said he would return to the farm.
“I have a younger brother who is bigger and stronger,” he told the doctors. “If he has to, he’ll throw me over his shoulder and put me into the combine.”
Some people call it determination. “We call it stubbornness,” he said.
He started to regain some movement in his limbs. On the anniversary of his father’s death, he took his first steps.
He counted that as his second miracle.
“There was definitely a Higher Power involved,” Odens said. “Everything in medical science showed I would not walk again.”
The hospital put his family in touch with Easter Seals and a program called AgrAbility. Those programs provided assistive devices and technology; Odens’ friends and neighbors provided the labor. Ninety percent of the town of 420 residents showed up to help with harvest the first year.
“The first thing they got me was a John Deere Gator so I could get around the farm and be part of the farm. It kept me safe on snow and ice,” he said.
A concrete floor was installed in the equipment shed and some of the outbuildings. A lift was installed so he could get into the tractor and combine without his brother’s help. An electric tarp made it possible to cover a load of grain from the seat of the truck.
Automatic gate openers meant he didn’t have to get out of the vehicle, and a remote start for his pickup enables him to start the engine and illuminate his path to the truck at night.
“Mom says we are modern day farmers,” he explained. “Instead of working sun up to sun down, we get started about 9 a.m. and work until 2 a.m. Our motto is, ‘If the sun don’t shine, the lights work fine.’”
Odens carries his weight in the farming operation. He can drive the tractor, combine, even the big semis. “I do everything but heavy lifting,” he said.
He recalled the days when he was playing basketball in school and how his father would tell him, when he’d lost a game, “There are bigger disappointments coming. You’d better pick it up!” The young father reminisced, “It’s almost like he knew what was coming.”
He added, “Our father’s dream was to see us farm. Now his dreams, and ours, are coming true, thanks to Easter Seals.”
Odens gives back to Easter Seals by making speeches such as the one in Delaware. He was the 2006 adult ambassador for the organization, the first ambassador from Iowa, and the first farmer. And he’s just kept on traveling and speaking wherever they request.
“Easter Seals gives people hope,” he said. “If you lose hope, what have you got?
“It’s hard for a farmer to ask for help. We’re just old-fashioned. We don’t ask for help until we really need it. We try to hold off as long as we can. I considered my accident a tragedy, but now I see it as a blessing, for the people I’ve met and the places I’ve gone. This has opened up my lfe and given me opportunities I didn’t have when I was ‘normal.’”
Odens quips that he’s waiting now for his third miracle: A wife and children. “I’m the same person as before the accident,” he said. “Just a little shorter.”
He is long on praise, though, for Easter Seals and AgrAbility. For more information on either of these programs, visit www.agrabilityproject.org or www.easterseals.com or call 800-914-4424.