Lacey is the niece of one of my close friends, and her story deserves to be heard

Send your strength and prayers for this brave young ranch hand.
Lacey is the niece of one of my close friends, and her story deserves to be heard.

“Just after daybreak last Thursday, Lacey saddled her favorite mare, Willow, and rode out across the crisp Wyoming prairie to check yearlings along the north fenceline.
She’d done the job a hundred times—quiet, steady work she loved.

A neighbor had spotted a calf limping badly and asked for help doctoring it. Lacey’s partner roped the calf’s front end, and she followed behind, swinging her heel loop with the same calm, practiced rhythm she’d grown up with.

But in a single second, everything changed.
The calf kicked sideways in panic, tangling Willow’s legs and sending both horse and rider off balance. Willow fought to catch herself, but momentum took over. Lacey was thrown forward, and Willow toppled, sliding across the short grass.
Lacey took the full force of the fall, her head striking the ground before Willow could roll away.”

She was immediately airlifted to Billings, where she remains in the ICU with a severe traumatic brain injury and swelling around her brain stem.

Her family is staying by her side around the clock, praying for progress and holding tightly to hope.
Any support—prayers, shares, or kind thoughts—means the world to them right now, as they face long days of waiting and healing.