Braxten Nielsen: We Were Born to Succeed

BY JESSIE SHOOK

There wasn’t a dry eye in the room after Keynote Speaker Braxten Nielsen delivered an inspiring message at the 86th Annual Membership Meeting. Nielsen’s is a story of perseverance and resilience after breaking his back in a rodeo accident. From this experience, he learned three valuable life lessons – surround yourself with greatness, have a positive attitude and work hard.

Growing up in Roosevelt, Utah, Nielsen spent a lot of time camping, hunting and ranching with his family. Sports have always been a huge part of his life. After spending the majority of his youth playing football, baseball, basketball, soccer and wrestling, he found his passion in bareback riding, a rodeo sport. While he was on a hunting trip, he met Kaycee Feild, whom Nielsen described as the “Michael Jordan of Rodeo.” After Feild suggested Nielsen try rodeo, Nielsen thought, “If this is going to hurt me or get me in trouble, let’s see how far I can go.”

Feild became a mentor to Nielsen, teaching him valuable life lessons. “On my first ride, the horse went down, and I was scared to death, I didn’t want to get back on,” Nielsen said.

“Kaycee could tell, came over and shouted, ‘You got this Brax’ and opened the gate on me.” The rest is history. He participated in rodeo teams in college, eventually taking on the Pro Rodeo Circuit where he competed against his mentor. “A mentor sees the potential that we can’t see in ourselves,” Nielsen said. “Fear is the one thing that holds us back from reaching our true potential; we need someone to open the gate on us.”

Nielsen began to surround himself with greatness. He found a mentor who believed in him. He began traveling and competing, surrounding himself with more greatness. “I felt like I was superman, I felt like there wasn’t a horse that could buck me off, there wasn’t a thing that could knock me down, work was paying off and life was going good,” Nielsen said.

Life took a devastating turn in 2017. Nielsen was the first cowboy of the night. As he climbed on the back of the 1200-pound bronc, he was ready to set the stage. He was ready to make his name known. In a blink of an eye, as Nielsen was about to nod his head, the horse sat down in the chute, lunged backward hitting him in the chest with his rigging. “It was like I heard a shotgun go off in my ears,” Nielsen explained. “All of the sudden the horse stood up, left the chute and my legs were numb – it happened so fast.”

Any cowboy is taught to get up and get right back on after you fall off … Nielsen tried to get up, but couldn’t. He started waving to his friend, Joe Frost, who came to his side and tried to help him. “The medical team took off my chaps, started flicking my toes and I couldn’t feel anything,” Nielsen added. “Joe helped me to the ambulance, rode with me to the hospital and withdrew from the rodeo.”

Nielsen explained how Joe is the kind of friend he aspires to be. That we should all aspire to be. Although Joe was supposed to compete at the rodeo himself, he stayed by Nielsen’s side and let him know he was there for him. “When you see someone that’s down and out in your surroundings, in your family or community, someone that’s struggling with life – get on their level, try to understand what they are going through. You may not be able to relate but you can try to understand,” Nielsen explained. “Like Joe got on my level – be that kind of mentor, be that kind of friend, try to get down and be on their level.”

Nielsen endured a five-and-a-half-hour surgery to repair his L1 and T12 vertebrae in his back and his broken sternum as well as untwist his spinal cord. As he was waking up after surgery, he could hear the surgeon talking to his parents. He could hear his mother cry and his father’s disbelief. “I heard the doctor tell my parents that I had less than a 5% chance to walk,” Nielsen said. “My mom said that she thought my dad was crazy because he immediately started smiling, but that’s my dad’s mindset, he sees the positive – we still have a chance.”

As Nielsen woke up in a panic, with no feeling in his legs, his dad started squeezing his arms and asked, “Can you feel this?” Looking into his eyes, “Can you see me?” He put his hand on Nielsen’s chest and said, “Can you feel that?” As he felt his heart beating, he understood what his dad was trying to do – focus on the positive.

Nielsen’s family had a saying in their household –be the best. His dad stood by this saying throughout his experience. “Life is going to be different with the circumstance you’ve been dealt; it’s different but you can still be the best you can be,” Nielsen explained. “With a 5% chance to walk again, it gave me a positive perspective right out of the gate. Positive little things creating a positive big picture.”

When it came time for Nielsen to begin physical therapy, he knew he needed to surround himself with more greatness and a therapist that had a positive attitude. Someone who believed in him as much as he believed in himself. “The therapist leaned down to help me get in the wheelchair, I grabbed him by his collar and told him, ‘They said I have a 5% chance, I’m something unique, I’m something amazing, I’ll work as hard as you want me to – believe in me or leave the room and bring in the next therapist that will believe in me.’”

While in physical therapy, Nielsen was asked to curl a 1-pound bar. This 1-pound bar made him aware of the severity of his injuries when he could not curl it. He wanted to give up, but he remembered that in your given situation it’s 10% circumstance and 90% attitude. He knew it would take time and hard work to reach his goal and vision of walking out of the hospital. “If you just make a 1% effort every day, a year from today you will grow 365 times better,” Nielsen explained. “By the small and simple efforts, great things come to pass.”

With much perseverance and hard work Nielsen gained muscles that helped him learn how to walk again. However, he faced yet another challenge –safety regulations required Nielsen to complete a 50-meter walk on his own in order to walk out of the hospital. With his parents, physical therapist and other patients cheering him on, Nielsen succeeded.

Less than two months after Nielsen’s tragic accident, he was able to walk out of the hospital – on his own.

This experience taught Nielsen that when you set goals, be resilient and keep a positive attitude, you can accomplish anything. “Life will leave a scar on you, some you can see, some you can’t,” Nielsen said. “But what it’s doing is allowing you to leave your mark on the world.”

For more from Braxten Nielsen you can visit his website www.wewereborntosucceed.weebly.com or follow him on Instagram @braxten.nielsen.