Troy Oakley is a lucky man. He wasn’t given much of a chance by doctors to survive eight months ago, but, he proved them wrong. His strength and determination not only helped him pull through surgery, but led the 46 year-old to reevaluate and take drastic measures to improve his health as well as his personal life.
Still recovering, Oakley was recently seen at the Sun and Surf Circuit in Del Mar, California. Oakley was not there to show, but to visit long time friend and customer Lynn Leedy. The news of Oakley being in California piqued our curiosity, so GoHorseShow.com decided to find out what has been going on in his life since his life-saving surgery eight months ago.
“My career as a horse trainer has changed drastically,” Oakley said in an exclusive interview with GoHorseShow.com. “I just started riding a couple weeks ago, just lightly. I’m going to be in Pilot Point, Texas riding horses and working on an exciting new venture (stay tuned for more.) I’m also going to do a lot more buying and selling of my own horses, but as far as riding eight to ten head a day, those days are over.”
In August 2009, Oakley suffered an aortic aneurysm which is a dissection of the descending aorta. “I guess the best way to explain it is if you have seen a garden hose where it’s ready to swell and bust, that’s what my condition was. My aorta was down to the last layer and it was seeping blood,” Oakley explained. “I thought I was having a heart attack but it wasn’t a heart attack–it’s really much worse. John Ritter from Three’s Company died of the same thing.”
Oakley adds, “Only three percent of the people survive the surgery that I had. It’s caused from high blood pressure and a lot of stress. They call it the silent killer because it just sneaks up on you, but for some reason my life was spared! The good Lord was looking out for me!”
It also didn’t hurt that Oakley had recently lost weight and was taking better care of himself. Dr. William Brinkman, the specialist at Baylor who performed the surgery, told him that if he hadn’t lost weight, he wouldn’t have survived the surgery.
Recovery, according to Oakley, has been “Slow. Very, very, very, slow.” He’s adamant that he couldn’t have lived through the recovery without health insurance. “One thing that I would very much like to stress is that I don’t care if you have to do with a lesser truck, maybe not eat out as much, but you gotta have health insurance! Without it, my medical bills would have cost me over half of a million dollars and my medicine would be anywhere between $900-1,000 per month. Instead, I paid a $3,500 deductible and now I only pay $10 for each of my prescriptions–so my medicine costs me about $100 a month instead of $1,000.”
Troy currently can’t lift more than 25 pounds as he is still healing from his surgery. He is also following doctor’s orders by trying to live a more stress free life.
“My attitude has changed drastically. I’m not going to get real religious on you when I tell you this, but the good Lord left me here for a reason. I’m supposed to be dead. He left me here for a reason and I’m going to take advantage of it. I have a new philosophy now, I take one day at a time,” Oakley said. “As a horse person, we live so much for our clientele, and we live so much to try and win a trophy or a belt buckle. I was the worlds’ worst, and I forgot what the real world is like. I live back in the real world now.”
Throughout the difficult eight months since his surgery and his subsequent marriage separation, Oakley believes he has learned who his true friends are. The path to that road has not been an easy one for him. “One thing that has bothered me is that when you go through the situation that I’ve gone through, there are a lot of people who scattered. What I mean by scattered is that they jumped ship. I have always been there for those people, but it sure is funny that when something like this happens, whether its marriage problems or a sickness, how quickly they turn tail and run. But it doesn’t aggravate me. Before this it would have really bothered me, but, now, I just smile and thank the good Lord that he left me here to enjoy this. You’re talking to a man who counts his blessings every morning!”
However, Oakley does have great respect for those who did stand by him. He is grateful that he can personally thank his friends and family for helping him through such a difficult time. He would like to thank the NSBA Crisis Fund and the North Carolina Quarter Horse Association for their help as well as the people who paid visits and sent cards while he was in the hospital. Oakley would also like to thank his Mom and Dad for helping him through his rehab time.
“I went to Indiana, and I got away from the world and it felt so good just to get back to being the little boy that grew up there. I want to thank my parents for showing me unconditional love and how to put God first in my life.”
As Oakley’s physical limitations put himself in the unenviable position of re-inventing himself, he plans to approach the industry in more of a teaching role. Regardless of where Oakley’s path takes him, everyone agrees that he’s lucky to still be alive.
