Atlas Twp.- Jim and Lynn Lusty began preparing for their oldest daughters’open house in about February.
Angela, 17, the eldest of four girls had graduated from Powers Catholic High School on June 1, and along with her family, were planning for the major post graduation gathering on the spacious grounds at their rural Atlas Township home.
The party tents were pitched, food for about 150 guests was prepared and the spacious grounds of their small farm gromed.
In the neat two car garage, memories of Angela first 17 years, including 4-H trophies, baby pictures, and homework adorn a table with a diploma from Powers High School at the center. A host of details were considered, including bathing and brushing the five horses the Lusty’s kept on their 10 acre farm.
In the afternoon of June 19 , Angela and her neighbor, Stephanie Yancho, 18, were brushing the 6-year-old gelding Paint, named ‘Pride? when life after graduation changed.
Angela knew the horse was angry.
‘The horse started stomping its feet, its ears were laid back and it was real fidgety,? said Angela, a long time 4-H member and experienced horse handler. ‘I had just told him, ‘you’d had better not kick me.??
The horse didn’t listen.
The blow from the hoof clipped the petite, five-foot-one Angela in the lower abdomen, causing her to stagger, yet like most horse handlers that contend with temperamental animals, such injuries were all too common.
‘It hurt, but I’d been kicked before.?
However, this time the injury was significant and she collapsed in the grass near the barn.
Her father, Jim Lusty, 44, an Atlas Township Planning Commission member who was in the adjacent house, rushed his daughter directly to nearby Genesys Regional Medical Center Health Park.
‘The personnel at the emergency room seemed rather busy at the time,? said Jim. ‘So I decided to drive her the extra 12 miles to Hurley.?
Tests indicated a torn bowel, a tiny hole in the small intestine. After the 50 minute surgery to repair the tare, she is expected to recover fully.
If the jolt from the kick was bad enough, recovery time required five to six days in the hospital, a stay that would mean she would miss her Saturday open house.
‘I gave her the option whether to cancel the open house or not,? said Jim. ‘Angela felt bad for those who might show up and not know the open house was cancelled’so we kept the party going.?
So, on Saturday afternoon under a cloudless sky, more than 200 gathered to congratulate Angela, now a patient at Hurley Medical Center.
The Child Life Department at Hurley set up a Web-link in Angela’s room so she could converse and watch the happenings at her open house. One-by-one guests spoke with Angela offering their well wishes.
‘While I missed my party, the real bad part is that I can’t ride horses for the next six-weeks,? she said.
‘We’ve been riding horses for a long time, it’s been a big part of my life, I can’t wait to get back on.?
Angela earned a two-year scholarship to Mott Community College and plans on attending Michigan State University in two years to study veterinary medicine.