It’s been one year since Ladd Drummond, husband of popular blogger and tv personality Ree Drummond (aka the Pioneer Woman), broke his neck in a freak accident on his Oklahoma ranch. His wife recently shared an update about Ladd’s health with her fans.
Last March,Ladd and his nephew Caleb were driving separate trucks while fighting a wildfire at the family’s ranch. Unable to see due to heavy smoke, the two vehicles collided in a “wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time” accident that left Caleb with cuts, bruises and broken ribs, and Ladd with a broken neck.
“Caleb wound up in an ambulance, Ladd wound up on a helicopter, and less than 24 hours later, Ladd was in surgery having his broken neck repaired. It was scary, but he was very, very lucky,” Ree wrote of the crash.
In an update posted to her blog, Ree detailed Ladd’s recovery, even calling him “a bad patient” due to his desire to “push the envelope” just a few days following his release from the hospital.
“Ladd was a good patient in the sense that he generally obeyed his surgeon’s orders when he first got home from the hospital. Ladd was a bad patient in the sense that he started pushing the envelope about three days later,” Ree wrote. “I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say he got in his pickup and drove around the ranch on day four. His seat was almost totally reclined, but by golly, he drove!”
Just a few weeks after his accident, the couple’s daughter Alex got married in a stunning outdoor ceremony and Ladd removed his neck brace to walk her down the aisle. But, Ree insists that he put it right back on. Ree also shared that her hubby rode his horse the morning of the rehearsal dinner.
“Fortunately, I’ve been married to this dude for 25 years and I asked Jesus to take the wheel many years ago, so I was able to throw my hands up and surrender when these envelopes were pushed. Thank you, Carrie Underwood,” she wrote.
In the months since, Ladd’s strength has gradually returned, along with a “healthy dose of gratitude, per Ree who wrote, “The surgeon had told us that the fracture in his neck came dangerously close to damaging his spinal cord, and the fact that he was lucky to be able to get up and walk around after surgery was not lost on Ladd.”
The Pioneer Woman writes that Ladd is pretty much back to normal with his ranch work and riding horses, the only lasting effects of his accident being a stiff neck.
Read Ree’s one-year update on Ladd in-full HERE.