1962-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1962 October Voice | Page 5

Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse
3
She Remembers Day Sam Started A New Life
(Editor's Note—He lias a right leg that
from knee to hip built on just a sliver of
natural bone. Both arms from elbow to
shoulder have bones that are the size of
led pencils. One time he stayed 13 straight
months in bed. Three times doctors de­
spaired of his life. Other times they wanted
to amputate that leg but he wouldn’t let
them do it. He missed seven years of school
but graduated from high school at age 21. Yet
on September 1. 1962, he rode Ebony Master­
piece to the Tennessee Walking Horse Grand
Championship of the World at the Shelby-
ville National Celebration. He did the same
thing with Setting Sun in 1958. He is one
of the two men living today who have rid­
den two different horses to this world’s title.
His name is Sam Paschal of Murfreesboro.
Tcnn. No one knows his life of 44 incredible
years as well as does his mother, who has
lived all of them with him and nursed him
through 34 major operations. So we visited
Mrs. Hassie Paschal at her home and here is
the story she told the Voice Editor. BAG.)
BY MRS. HASSIE PASCHAL
As Told To Editor Beii A. Green
Sam was our second son, born at
Porterfield, a small community in
Cannon County of which Woodbury
is the county seal. Our oldest boy was
Forrest, now 46. Then came Sam,
now 44, and then Donald two years
after Sam.
Their father was a horse-trader and
farmer named Chalmas Paschal. He
died 10 years ago.
Sam was a lively little boy, very
energetic and happy. When lie was
eight years old he struck his right
knee against a bench while playing
tag in school. He came home crying.
At first we thought he had just bruised
the leg. The next day our doctor came
and he said he thought Sam had in­
fantile paralysis.
Sam was very sick and lay almost
at the point of death for about six
weeks. Another doctor came from
Murfreesboro and the two doctors had
a consultation. Our family doctor
had rheumatism and had to go to Hot
Springs, Ark.
Mama Hassie Paschal and her Bovs celebrating the Ebony Masterpiece victory of
Sept. 1. 1962. From left are Forrest. 46. Donald. 42. Sam. 44. Forrest operates a
furniture store in Murfreesboro owned by the three brothers. Their father—-Chalmas
Paschal—died 10 years ago.
Rutherford County General Hospital.
At Nashville a doctor operated on
Sam and found that the bone in his
right leg was almost in pieces. He
had the bone disease known as oste­
We look Sam to Murfreesboro to omyelitis (an inflamation of both
have X-ray pictures taken. He was bone and marrow). The Doctor took
suffering so much pain in the hip that out all the bone but a slim piece ol
medicine could not give him any re­ it that the flesh could grow back
around. We brought Sam back to
lief.
Murfreesboro at a friend’s house, then
As soon as the pictures were com­ we look him back to Porterfield and
pleted, the doctor looked at them and I took care of him.
sent us immediately to Vanderbilt
Hospital at Nashville. At that time
From then on—all during his school
there was no hospital in Murfreesboro. years, he had from one to three opera­
Later Sam was the third patient in tions every year. He lost a total of
the hospital when it was opened here— seven years in school, but twice made
up for some of it by passing two
grades in a single year. And he went
on to finish high school when 21
years old.
His second operation came a few
months after the first. The doctor
said infection had gone into the blood
stream and Sam was affected in both
arms. It was necessary to operate on
his arms from the elbow to the shoul­
der, scrape the bone to remove ab­
scesses, and cut the bone until it was
about the size of a lead pencil.
When Sam had his second opera­
tion his Daddy bought him a black
Shetland Pony named Dan. Sam had
(continued on page 4)