Ames triumphs at livestock auction

Saturday, July 26, 2008
Ethan Ames with his father Kim at the 2008 Putnam County 4-H Fair Livestock Auction on Friday.

A few short weeks ago, no one knew for sure if 10-year Putnam County 4-H'er Ethan Ames was even going to make it to this year's fair.

On Friday, a victorious Ethan left the fair's auction ring as the seller of the animal that received the highest bid after his beef steer sold for $7,750.

Ethan, 18, of Fillmore was involved in a serious farming accident on June 13. He was run over by a tractor and suffered several skull and jaw fractures, a broken shoulder and a crushed sternum.

Ethan stayed at Methodist Hospital for over a month, coming home on July 18. He wears an eye patch for now, but his father Kim said there is no reason to believe Ethan won't regain his sight completely. He is having some trouble swallowing, but doctors have told the family that should correct itself in time.

Ethan had a CT scan of his brain on Friday, and his neurologist gave him a clean bill of health.

"All we know for sure is that he's lost the hearing in his right ear and that won't ever come back," Kim said.

The Ames family was bowled over by the generosity of those who bought Ethan's steer.

"We are just so thankful," Kim said.

Ethan nodded in agreement.

"Definitely," he said with a smile.

Ethan coming to the fair at all was a community effort.

"Ethan was able to get his calf and two pigs here, and we didn't do any of it," said Kim.

The money Ethan made from the sale of his steer will come in handy, as he is set to begin classes at Ivy Tech this fall. Ethan plans on studying agriculture and forestry.

As Ethan basked in the joy of his big sale and the end of his last year of 4-H, his mother Gina came to tell him it was time for his IV antibiotics -- something he has to do every day to ward off infection.

Ethan smiled and patted his mother's arm.

"She's my No. 1 nurse," he said.

More results from the Putnam County 4-H Fair auction will appear in Monday's Banner Graphic.

Comments
View 3 comments
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
  • Wow, what a great comeback for this young man.

    -- Posted by Xgamer on Sat, Jul 26, 2008, at 5:09 AM
  • Way to go Ethan. Good luck at school.

    -- Posted by mad-mom on Sat, Jul 26, 2008, at 9:47 AM
  • This truly showes what Putnam County 4Hers are all about. Best wishes young man!

    -- Posted by fannatic on Tue, Jul 29, 2008, at 12:26 PM
Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: