DUNDEE — Doctors said Brayden Auten would never walk.
Born 15 years ago with spina bifida, he has no feeling below his knees. He’s broken 20 bones, and he’s had more than 20 surgeries.
But, today, Brayden, an incoming sophomore at Ida High School, not only walks, he drives, works on a farm and shows animals, including steer, at the Monroe County Fair.
Brayden is a member of the Barnyard Clovers 4-H Club. At age 8, he started showing pigs at the fair. This year he’ll show two pigs, three meat rabbits and a 1,280-pound steer named Nugget.
“4-H is our way of putting him into sports,” Brayden's mom, Vanessa Auten of Dundee, said. “He wanted to be in sports, but he was physically not able to keep up. My husband, Brad, was in 4-H. 4-H is a huge part of Brayden's life now.”
While Nugget stays at Dave and Joanna Uhl’s farm in Dundee, the rabbits and pigs are at the Autens’ home. Brayden gets up at 5:30 a.m. every day to care for all of the animals. Then, on and off until 10 each night, he works with the animals, rinsing, cleaning, feeding, watering, combing and walking them.
“Walking steer is one of the most important things. You have to have a good-walking steer. I walk him at night,” Brayden said. “If I’m not with the animals, I’m at work.”
Brayden works at Ruehs Farm.
“He power washes the farm, paints; he greases tractors; he’s part of harvest,” Vanessa said. “He’s in FFA at Ida. He eats, breathes and wants to be part of agriculture in some way.”
Brayden often does his work and his animal care with broken bones.
“Almost every season, something ends up happening. He broke his ankle last year the day before fair. He can’t feel it,” Vanessa said. “He said, ‘I am showing my animals.’ Last year his pig was reserve grand champion. He always gets first in his class. He got jackpot show for the whole class.”
Another time, Brayden got a bone infection that lasted 19 days.
“He didn’t care about anything but making sure his animals were OK,” Vanessa said.
Now, Brayden is showing his sister, Bailey, 7, how to show animals.
“He’s teaching his little sister, helping her show pigs. She’s showing our dog and trying to learn how to do that,” Vanessa said. “He’s a good teacher."
Tobie Fitch of Maybee, Monroe County 4-H’s beef superintendent, said spina bifida doesn’t hinder Brayden’s abilities to raise or show his animals.
“Absolutely not. The kid is phenomenal,” Fitch said. “His problems do not stop him from doing or showing anything. Everything that Brayden wants to do, he conqueror it.”
Spina bifida
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spina bifida is a type of neural tube defect that affects the spine. It ranges from mild to severe.
“I got a very good case of it. People wouldn’t know I have something wrong with my back. I do the same as everyone else,” Brayden said. “Many people (with spina bifida) don’t ever learn how to walk, or they are paralyzed from the waist down or the neck down. Some are wheelchair-bound. I’m able to do anything, except sports. Football, if you hit me really hard, it could really mess up my back or my shunt or mess up my feet. I don’t play sports. Why mess up my body? I still can’t ride a bike; I have no balance for it.”
In addition to neuropathy, Brayden was born without parts of his spine.
“When he was first born, he had an 8 ½-hour back surgery. He had a shunt in his brain put in at 2-months. He’s my miracle baby,” Vanessa said.
She was told Brayden would never walk.
“Thank God for University of Michigan. They were really amazing and helped him so much. He went to baby boot camp. He had non-stop physical therapy and occupational therapy,” Vanessa said.
She was shocked the day Brayden walked across the room.
“It was two days before my birthday. That was my birthday wish. I was bawling my eyes out,” Vanessa said.
Since then, Brayden has had more than 20 surgeries to correct back, leg and joint problems. Although he wears steel-toed shoes and leg braces, he’s still had dozens of broken ankle and foot bones.
“We don’t know until it swells,” Brad said.
“If we see swelling or a bruise, we’ll go and get an X-ray. 95 percent of the time it’s broken,” Brayden said.
Vanessa said it’s like Brayden’s driving around on bald tires.
“With the number of breaks and rolling ankles, his joins are completely gone. He has low sensation or low blood flow; they haven’t figured it out. His bones take such a beating, and he doesn’t feel it,” she said.
Overcoming
Brayden was recently able to take driver’s education classes with his friends.
“He took a four-hour driving sensation test at U-M, to see if he could legally be able to be behind the wheel. He has feeling in his kneecaps and can feel the pressure he’s giving. His hand-eye coordination is good,” Vanessa said.
“They tested to see if I need a hand brake, if I didn’t know how much pressure to apply (to the pedals). I learned how much pressure. Everything was normal. I didn’t need hand brakes,” Brayden said.
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With money saved from his job and 4-H projects, Brayden just bought an older F-150 truck.
“He didn’t want any help. He’s super independent,” Vanessa said.
“He’s an amazing kid,” she added. “He doesn’t let any of these (conditions) make him ‘not normal.’ He keeps up will all the other kids.”
“He busts his butt on everything he does,” his dad said.
— Contact reporter Suzanne Nolan Wisler atswisler@monroenews.com.
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