LAS VEGAS, March 27 (UPI) -- Rodeo star Beau Schroeder was airlifted to a Las Vegas hospital after a bull-riding accident left him with a torn trachea and collapsed lungs, colleagues said.
Schroeder, 25, was competing in the Fort Mohave Classic Xtreme Bulls event in Fort Mohave, Ariz., Sunday when the accident occurred, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association said in a statement.
Surgery to repair the trachea was performed Sunday night in University Medical Center in Las Vegas, the statement said.
A native of China, Texas, and winner of the 2012 Wrangler International Finals Rodeo title, Schroeder will wear a tracheostomy tube in his throat for six weeks and will be unable to speak during that time. He has been texting friends and well-wishers from the hospital's Intensive Care Unit, the Beaumont, Texas, Enterprise reported Wednesday.
