Three Years Ago Today

Hello everyone, I am going to paste what my brother wrote on Alex Brown Racing site for him and then what I wrote also. I just know that my whole family is so very thankful and grateful for all of your prayers and support during Mike's road to recovery. He is still in that race and will cross that finish line one day I truly believe.


Mike's post
Okay I'm back from therapy now and still can't believe it's been 3 years since I had that trip from hell on the filly from hell that I was trying to convert. I guess when they're actually demon possessed there is no converting them. I wish I had thought of that a month earlier when the filly did the same thing with me on a farm where I had met the other trainer on to give her a good workout up a hill with 3 other horses and she bolted past them at the end of the workout and I couldn't pull her up and we fell that day crossing a driveway into the farm. That day I was fortunate enough to only break a finger that stays bent to this day. I should have known that day that this filly was too misbehaved to go on with. But my stubbornness and need for the money I made training her for my friend Bruce Miller kept me working her. Brue and I havae helped each other out for years leading up to this day so I didn't want to disappoint him. Instead I've disappointed him and lots of other people being so ignorant. My faith in God has definitely been tested and still I believe "everything happens for a reason". That's the only way I keep going and to be introduced to you all and everyone I met through this whole FOB site and made good friends with so many of you guys which never would have happened if me and Barbaro hadn't been hurt at around the same time. I just came back from 4 days at Rick and Mary's which was unbelievable.I never new such wonderful people existed and I'm sure they're not the last special people I'm going to get to know a lot better through this whole experience.I just feel like I've taken advantage of a site that's supposed to help horses and other animals. It's definitely been a real blessing to read and write about myself and look forward to the day I can help more with all the wonderful things this site has stood for. Till then I hope I don't get in the way of the good things that this site accomplishes. Be good and keep up the prayers, their working. Later. Mike Rea


Mine(Cathy)
Like I have always said, "Yes, my brother is SIMPLY AMAZING"! Today is the day 3 years ago that I received that devastating call about my brother and hit the road thinking would I even make it to Shock Trauma in Maryland in time to tell him how much I loved him and good-bye. I can remember trying to stay cool for my mother who I knew would just loose it if she knew how serious his accident and he was. Can you believe this? I called 911 on Interstate 95 and even asked them if I could put on my flashers and speed. Of course they told me no. Then I even asked if someone could escort my mother and I through each state. Your mind just doesn't even think right at times like that. My mother is terrified of flying and does not fly so I didn't even bother asking her that. But as we were flying down I95 she was calling directory assistance and asking about flying by helicopter the rest of the way. There was so much private praying going on the dear Lord was on our side and my brothers. When we arrived there he was on a ventilator and lifeless and now look at him. Thank God and everyone for where my brother is today. Seriously, I really don't think Mike would be where he is today if it wasn't for everyone of us. I thank my mother and my sister Nancy for making it possible for me to be able to stay with my brother for all those months and help him in his recovery. When my brother gets so depressed and down I remind him that he couldn't breath, think, talk, eat or drink, urinate and the other, move his limbs, nor drive or walk. So if anybody didn't believe in God or miracles, just look at MIKE REA. He's SIMPLY AMAZING!! I still believe the best is yet to come and he is still on his race to recovery. He will be crossing that finish line one day and we will all remember to always believe, believe in miracles, and believe in Mike Rea. May God bless each and everyone of you.

WE STILL BELIEVE IN MIRACLES
WE STILL BELIEVE IN THE FANS OF BARBARO
WE STILL BELIEVE IN MIKE REA

I can't believe how long it's been

I can't believe how long it's been since I last sat down here and poked through these letters enough to write a post much less a good one. I can't even remember the lst time I sat down here and wrote till I felt like I had caught everybody up on what's been going on since I last did. I guess the brain injury is a good excuse for that. I think I've been using that as a good excuse for alot of silly things I would have normally been doing anyway what with a wife leaving and taking all the kids with her. She has been good about letting me see the kids and spend all the time I feel like I can take with them. That's one area that I would change if it wasn't for this crazy brain injury...I would be running all over the place with these kids especially like yesterday at the barn where Rochelle now works which is a perfect place to spend time with the kids and horses. She is lucky to be at such a nice place where she can take the kids in the afternoon and mess with a couple of ponies that are out there and one big enough for my oldest son Jesse to ride. He actually has the most experience than all the kids and looks great sitting on their backs and I'm hoping to get where I can actually go out their some more and help give some pointers to him and the others. All the kids look like naturals. Now I wonder where that came from with their mother and father being so involved in horses. Now Gracie has her own pony that was given to her and will be perfect for her and Hunter for many years and is only 18 years old and looks like he has alot of years left in him. So I am much happier seeing the kids so comfortable out there and knowing how Rochelle is with horses know she'll be there for quite a while. Now that that worry is gone, the time to just worry about myself and recovery is here. It's been hard to just worry about myself with so many unknowns in a very important part of my life. Now I feel like I can put the concentration into my recovery I should have put into it before. Everything seems to be working out in somebody's timing that knows a whole lot more than me and that's great because learning that there's someone in control of the whole situation gives me alot lot of confidence I should have had already but not until you go through something like this are you really sure everything happens for a reason. Also like the other day at riding therapy I had been having a lot of trouble keeping my hands down and still while posting at the trot and I looked liked a beginner rather than someone who has ridden his whole life. This new place has been trying to get me not to have to hang on to a pomel strap I've been hanging onto the whole time I've been in theraputic riding since the accident. I've been having alot of trouble keeping my hands down and still because my arms and elbows are so siff. So as I was driving out there the two weeks ago I started thinking about that part of my riding which used to be my best part, my hands. So while picturing the posting I came up with the idea why I didn't push my hands down while I rose to the post and relax my arms when I sat to the post. So I tried it and it worked great! My hands stayed down and still for the first time without any extra help from a strap! Then the other night at a pig roast I went to and saw Tim Woolley and his wife there and after talking to them a while they invited me to come out to Fair Hill and ride their pony to the track with a couple sets of babies just for company and I would love that. So I agreed, once the weather staightens out. So I hope you all can tell why I'm so excited 1)my wife and kids being somewhere I know they like 2)My therapy going well 3)using my injured brain to come up with a trick that worked with my riding 4)the chance to get back in the racing scene riding Tim's pony 5)learning God is in control, all of it just excites me knowing only God knows what's next and after all the negative things that have happened in my life only positive things are in store for me and that's about all the typing I'm good for. Mike Rea

Wishing Everyone A Merry Christmas

I kept wondering when this day would get here and for some reason it seems like it's taken a long time. MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone and may you be found in good spirits and happy with the way life is treating you. I couldn't be any happier even if I was well and working normally.Just about everything that goes on in my life is due to this accident so all the good things and good people I have met would definitely not have happened if the accident hadn't occurred. And it just continues on with the renewing of old friendships to the starting of remarkable new friendships and being used by God in ways I would have never dreamed possible and the best is yet to come. I am so thankful to the Lord and the old friendships he has rekindled and the new friendships he has ignited. From all the special people from The Friends of Barbaro to All the people who have been friends for 20 years or more to the new friends I've just met like Dawn, the girl who suffered a similar injury some 18 years ago and I feel a very close connection to. What a Christmas season to be getting back to where I can remember so much more. Next is to work at the physical side of recovery and see that continue to improve. And I'm sure with work and prayer and help from all my friends it will improve to a level that amazes everyone. MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR and I'll write more as it comes. Thanks again!!!!! Mike Rea

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

Okay everyone, Here is my new and Thanksgiving day post. I just want to thank everyone for all the attention they have given me including prayers and good wishes.I honestly don't know where I would be without all the miraculous creations from above and mainly due to the endless outside intervention of all the Fans of Barbaro and endless group of friends due to the Horse World.I suppose I also need to thank Barbaro for his input which is also endless.The people that have been brought back into my life and also the ones that have been part of my life for over 30 years all due to horses. I just got in touch with a guy who was a remarkable friend in Lexington,Ky and was in business with for many years then actually trained a horse he owned and bred himself over 30 years ago who knew nothing of my accident but gave me some great advice on which directions to head for in the future and plans on keeping in touch,And the maintenance man from my new apartment has a step daughter who received a horrible brain injury from a motorcycle accident many years ago and is partially paralyzed and we have talked on the computer more in the last two days than I've ever talked to anyone and I feel like I can really relate to her,with it being winter outside,staying in and messing with the computer is a good thing. I've also just started taking some Internet courses on ministerial work which is something I'm really looking forward to and can't wait to get started.I wanted to start this some 20 years ago and is one of the good things that has come out of this accident.Well I have to go start getting ready to go to the girl that runs Carousel farms,where I do my therapeutic riding, mother's house for Thanksgiving and that should be real nice.Happy Thanksgiving everyone and God Bless. Mike

Life is good

Life is good when you have such a large group of people and family that care so much for you. It's a shame you had to almost die and go through such life changing events before you finally realize who cares and how much they care for you. Now I don't know who's at fault for it having to take that major of an event to bring it out in the clear. But It wouldn't be surprised if I'm the one at fault in that department because I was so consumed and overwhelmed with just what's involved in just training a barn full of horses. Especially doing it the way I was. I'm also sure that's the biggest lesson God wants me to learn from all of this. What's really important and what's not. It's also a shame to have to loose a family learning all this but if it took this to do that then something else would have caused it and it's better happening now than later to give everybody a chance to recover and go on with their lives. At least I'm getting to look at it like this and not be all depressed and worried how God feels. Because he promises to love us all through everything and who could be more understanding about any situation and is waiting for the asking of help. So far things have gone amazingly, well just I haven't been healed overnight but that even though it's possible, wouldn't teach me the biggest lesson I have to learn "patience". Thanks again to everyone for praying and thinking of me and my family. Love, Mike

God's love is forever

Hello again everyone,

I just want to tell everyone how things have been since I moved to my new apartment here in Newark,Delaware close to Delaware Park, my old stomping grounds before my marriage, and close to Fair Hill, my stomping grounds during my marriage. Now I'm close to all my new locations involved in my recovery, the University of Delaware and Carousel Farms where I now ride once a week. There for a while I was feeling like I had disappointed God in letting my marriage fall apart and that greatly affected the way I felt about everything but so many great things have happened lately I realize that I'm not the one disappointing God about anything. In fact he is actually proud of me and all I've gone through and still have the desire to serve him. There have been so many ways he has shown me he is still concerned about my well being and happiness. It started with me being able to drive myself to a cookout I was invited to by an old friend who now works for Michael Matz and saw lots of people I haven't seen since the accident. Then an old friend of over 30 years who I used to be very fond of who then married a trainer and had a baby boy so I lost touch with her she saw the extreme home makeover show I was fortunate to be a part of and called me and we had a great conversation and she informed me she has been divorced for 15 years and her baby boy who once peed on me is now in law school. My how time passes when your having fun. So she just spent the weekend with me and all the feelings that were there 35 years ago are still there for both of us now that my wife has decided to live another life away from me. Rachelle asked me to be the God father of her beautiful baby boy Aaron who is named after Erin who is the little girl that passed away after a determined battle with a brain tumor and I'm very impressed with her mother who has been selected to be the God mother of Aaron. All of this combined with me having lunch with one of the first therapists that worked with me at the University after I was even well enough to leave the hospitals and start riding with Renee at Freedom Hills, then have spent the last year allowing the physical therapist at the University make all the decisions on my rehab thanks to Delaware Park footing a big part of the bill once my insurance stopped and they're the ones that got me started at Carousel Farms who by their generosity foots that bill and now to find out that the one therapist there is a born again christian who I had lunch with and invited me to his church and I invited two of my friends that live close to where the church is and have also been close friends of mine from the past. The wife I met fist at Atlantic City race track with my old golden retriever and first horse I ever owned or trained, then met the guy who became her husband and the one jockey that has won the most races for me through the years and the two of them have been my closest friends in the Lord and shared lots of spiritual closeness and meaningful experiences with. And after a beautiful church service went to their house and spent some quality time and had dinner with them. What a way to end a beautiful week and for me to remember God never lies. I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU is now one of his promises I live by. Thanks for the time it took you to read this for those who did and thank you Lord for giving me the strength to type it all. Mike Rea

Dealing with a brain injury and many other changes

First of all I just want to thank God for all that He has enabled me to go through and experience through this whole seemingly disaster. I am finally writing on my own blog spot that my sisters have been keeping up with since my accident in June of 2006. With the more time that goes by, the more I realize how God has turned this whole thing into a blessing and an unbelievable opportunity to spread what is possible through faith in God and his Son Jesus Christ. Many years ago I lived a life of recklessness and at the same time enjoyed a life of success and developed a closeness to horses as well as dogs since I had a golden retriever for 17 years who traveled the country with me and horses and past away of old age the day after I ran my first race horse and won! The dog used to stay right beside his stall all the time I was working on him and getting him ready for his first race. That dog had been with me from the time I was 9 years old and even went to all the famous horse shows I went to as a kid and as a young adult working as a groom. I also was able to meet some of the greatest horse people I've ever met and who played an enormous part of my ability to communicate with horses which has always played a big part of my success with horses. Through my dog and the first horse I owned and trained the Lord was constantly talking to me telling me I better change the way I was thinking or I was going to run out of time. The horse continued to win races up the ladder to a level that was unbelievable,50,000 claiming at Laurel race track, 2ND in stakes and allowance races and we started out at 3,500 claiming at Delaware Park in 1984. After all the wins I thought I could do no wrong and went out one night with a jockey friend but not before we bought some cocaine and wine to help make the trip to New Jersey since we had closed the bars in Delaware. On our way home with one headlight out we were pulled over by state police and I was so messed up I couldn't even repeat the alphabet. So I was arrested for drunk driving and put in jail over night. Luckily the jockey friend ate the little bit of cocaine we had so they didn't find that but I still had to spend the night in jail and wait for a friend to come and get me and my car the next day. If that had been today I'd still be in jail but I was fortunate enough to be allowed to go home to Delaware and the first person I called was a close friend of mine who I was freelancing riding his horses everyday and listening to his preaching everyday about what faith in God could do for you and I had no question it was time I went to church with him the next time I could. I went a couple of times and always got real emotional at the invitation time but not until a guest preacher who just happened to be an Italian like me did I respond to the invitation to accept Jesus Christ as your own personal savior. From the next day nothing has been the same. One month later I had to face the charges for the drunk driving so after praying in the court room the officer that had arrested me called in saying he felt I deserved another chance and would drop the alcohol charges if I would plead guilty to wreck less driving. So of course I did and that was my first proof of God answering prayers and a million more since then I just don't have the time or typing ability to tell you more. What I can tell you is about a year later I was very involved in starting the first bible study at Delaware Park and I was convinced the Lord wanted me to be a racetrack chaplain then I got the first opportunity to train horses and ones that Allen Jerkins would have been training if the man hadn't met me so I took that as a sign from God to start training. It was a very long and up and down career and then I also met Rochelle who I was convinced was the most beautiful girl I had ever met before, so my goal was to help her and her husband get back together so I started keeping touch with Rochelle under the impression of helping her marriage work out which is exactly opposite what I was really feeling so when Rochelle moved out to her mom's with her first son, Matthew, I went on with it and invited her to move in with me. As soon as their divorce was final we got married and had our first child, Jesse,about a year later. Our 14 years of marriage has been a mixture of great times and terrible times. Maybe that's why our 3 children are spread so far apart. Now she has moved backed to her mom's again,with our 3 children,and I couldn't really tell you what her desires are except she says she can't be a part of my family as long as my mom and sisters are a part of my family. I don't know where I would be without them and as long as I'm allowed to spend time with my kids once I've healed as much as the Lord wants me to and I think He has a whole lot more in store for me now than ever. I just have to keep focused on what He wants for me and my kids. Not what I want. That's not always easy.God Bless everyone. Mike Rea