The past five months have been challenging for trainer Jamie Hartman of Springfield, Missouri. On September 6th, 2011, Hartman was involved in a terrible accident when she was hit by a car while jogging near her home. She fractured her skull and shoulder; suffered a decompressed knee; and had a compound fracture of her the tibia and fibula of her right leg. Due to her injuries, Hartman had a rod placed in her right leg as well as plates and screws in her head, knee, and leg.
Hartman recalls what happened to her that September morning when she went jogging. “I had my headphones on which I would recommend everyone to not wear headphones while they are running. The sun was in my eye line and my dogs had run onto the road,” Jamie recalls. “A young man driving his car was probably blinded by the sun and was looking at the dogs and didn’t see me in the road and hit me.”
Jaime said that she knew the twenty-five year old man who hit her. She had graduated high school with him. “I have absolutely no bitterness or animosity because it was just as much my fault,” she says. “Thank God for shock because I don’t remember being in pain. I just remember I kept saying, ‘I’m okay, I’m okay’ over and over again.”
The car windshield was smashed, and her head was bleeding profusely. The young man that was driving called Jamie’s parents as well as 911. The firefighters got their first and had to hold Jamie’s father back from her until the ambulance arrived.
“My father was a mess, and I know it was a bad dream and memory that my parents will never forget. What was interesting was that at no time was I scared. I already had an inclination that I was going to be okay,” she remembers.
Hartman was in the hospital for two weeks. “I did get sick of not being able to sleep well and needing marathon-like strength to be able to move or do anything,” she recalls. “I couldn’t believe what my hair looked like when I looked in the mirror for the first time. No wonder my youth kids would cry when they would come see me in the hospital. One side of my head was shaved and had staples running up the side of it. Not my best look.”
After being released from the hospital, the 25 year-old was in a wheelchair for two months before moving to a walker and now crutches. “It was very humiliating to have people have to help me to the bathroom, and help bathe me, but I am forever thankful for everyone who has helped me through this difficult time,” Jamie says.
On January 19th of this year, she had surgery on her right leg to try
and get the fibula bone to heal correctly. “It was the most painful
surgery I have ever had,” Hartman tells GoHorseShow. “The pain
medications don’t even touch it, but hopefully it will help my bone
heal. A doctor in St. Louis recommended that I have this surgery to
speed along the process.”
Hartman says she would like to thank the NSBA Crisis Fund for the $15,000 that went towards her hospital bills. “I was so touched by their help, and I made a video thanking them for all their help and support during this difficult time. It is a small gesture compared to what they have done for me, but I hope they know how much it was appreciated.”
Jamie said that, at first, she was having difficult concentrating and focusing on certain projects when she was first injured, but she says that luckily her brain was not injured. Jamie says that she couldn’t read or watch television. She would have to take caffeine pills to help her massive headaches as well as keeping the blood vessel pumping in her head to counteract blood clots. Thankfully, most of her headaches and concentration issues have subsided.
“My accident has taught me how to figure out how to get things done despite my handicaps, and I am still working on becoming a master of delegation and to ask for help when I need it,” she says. “I now have major upper arm strength since I was unable to put any weight on my legs for two months. The accident has also taught me to not worry about things I can’t control and to reevaluate my client’s goals and really focus on what they want to accomplish in the show arena.”
Jamie started riding two months after the accident because she said it was the only place she didn’t feel handicapped. She says that she only rode a few horses a day but that she would stay on them for hours because it was good therapy for her. Jamie showed for the first time at the Gordyville Thanksgiving show, but said that she is trying to take her recovery slow. Hartman says that her boyfriend, Shane Dowdy is getting a pleasure futurity horse ready for her to show. Shane has recently moved his training operation to Missouri and Jamie and Shane work out of her father’s (Cliff Hartman) training facility.
“Before my accident, I would be lunging and feeding Shane’s horses, but now the roles have reversed,” Jaime says laughing. “Shane is now helping me with my horses and clients. Shane, my parents, sister, and my friend, Kim Tamling have been completely supportive, and I don’t know what I would have done without them– considering I was not the easiest patient all the time!”
GoHorseShow would like to thank Jamie for sharing her story and hopes that she continues to improve and have a full recovery.
