From wheelchair to first NFR, Walker, 53, contends for buckle

During a span of less than two months last year, Mary Walker lost her only son - 21-year-old Reagon, who was killed in a car accident - and suffered serious injuries in a fall during a barrel race that left her in a wheelchair for four months.

Walker still was recovering from her injuries - a shattered pelvis, two fractured vertebrae and two broken toes - when her husband, 16-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier Byron Walker, brought her to last year's NFR from their home in Ennis, Texas.

"We watched the barrel race and he started telling me what I needed to do, and I said, 'I just need to learn to walk and then I'll be OK,' " Walker said.

She did much more than walk this year. Walker teamed with Perculatin, who she refers to as "Latte" - her WPRA Horse of the Year - to win 13 rodeos and qualify for her first NFR at age 53.

In storybook fashion, Walker won the first round of the 54th NFR on Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center in a time of 13.75 seconds. She followed by winning the second round Friday in 13.8 seconds.

"Last year, I was still going through rehab at this time," Walker said. "For a year later, to get back out here, it's just unbelievable."

Walker attributes much of her success to her son's spirit. He was a PRCA steer roper.

"Every run I do, I feel him," she said. "I think he's the one who's guided me through this adventure that I'm going through right now, and I know he's here with me.

"He would have probably never thought that I would ever make it to the NFR."

Walker had plenty of doubts herself while laid up in a hospital bed after her doctor used eight plates and 11 pins to piece her pelvis back together.

"I thought, 'How am I going to get that leg to work and that joint?' and my surgeon came in and said, 'I fixed you, you're OK. Now it's between your ears what you do with your life,' " she said.

"I just took it day by day, and when I got scared and was thinking maybe I'm going to fall off (my horse) or couldn't do what I was capable of doing, I just said, 'I can do it, I know I can do it.' "

After arriving at the NFR in third place, Walker has climbed into second with her two go-round victories, good for $36,514 in earnings. She is $22,761 behind two-time world champion Brittany Pozzi in the battle for the priceless gold buckle.

"I tell you what, that would be a fairy-tale ending for sure," Walker said.

Her improbable comeback has inspired countless people, including a girl she met at Thursday's WPRA banquet who broke her neck and was paralyzed in a riding accident two years ago.

Walker gave the girl her phone number and made plans to take her to lunch when she visits her hometown next year.

"I just wanted people to know there are tragedies in life and you do overcome them," she said. "But it takes a lot of strength, it takes family and it takes friends to get you there."

As she dealt with her own misfortune, Walker said she was surrounded by supportive friends and family who kept her busy, especially her husband, a former steer wrestling world champion. They are going on 30 years of marriage.

"My husband is very persistent - very persistent - and he pushed me and pushed me and pushed me," Walker said, her voice cracking with emotion and her eyes welling with tears. "If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't be standing here right now."

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354.