Show jumper Cassandra Kahle, who suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) after a fall during a competition last month, has been diagnosed with diffuse axonal injury (DAI) in her brain.
Emil Spadone, the owner of Redfield Farm where 29-year-old Cassie rides and trains, said the diagnosis was confirmed by an MRI. DAI happens when the brain rapidly shifts inside the skull as an injury is occurring. The long connecting fibers in the brain called axons are sheared as the brain rapidly accelerates and decelerates inside the hard bone of the skull, according to medical websites. It is one of the most common types of TBI.
Cassie’s supporters are behind a game plan for what’s next from her neurologist at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Fla.
“They are giving her medication to stimulate her to try to wake her up,” Emil reported. It’s slow-working, so there’s a 72-hour time frame for that.
“Regardless if she wakes or not, they want her to go to a special rehab place in about seven to 10 days,” said Emil. He said he is leaning toward the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, which specializes in medical treatment, research and rehabilitation for people with brain injury, spinal cord injuries and other neuromuscular conditions.
He noted, “a few people have reached out that may be able to help with getting her in there.”
That’s important, since Emil pointed out, “it is supposed to be the best place in the country. They have a special division solely dedicated to waking up the patient. And then the follow-up rehab will depend on where she is at when she awakes. She is strong, so of course, I am still hopeful she will recover more quickly than most.”
As often happens when there is a crisis, the horse show community has rallied around Cassie. A GoFundMe page to cover medical and rehab expenses for Cassie has been started by Liz Schindler McFadden. Click here to donate. Danielle Torano organized an effort to send food to Cassie’s nurses as a thank you for her care.Those who want to contribute can click on this link.
This is the backstory on Cassie, culled from previous reports:
Last Thursday night, she “cracked her eyes open and stared right at me,” said Emil.
“Then she followed the command of the thumbs up and two fingers.” That was something she was able to do earlier in the week, even though she hadn’t opened her eyes at that point.
“It was an emotional moment,” Emil noted.
“That was the up. The down is she hasn’t done it again since.”
He had mentioned earlier on Thursday that because she had aspiration pneumonia from her breathing tube, her infection was likely to slow down her response time. However, he reported, her cough is almost completely gone.
Shands Hospital quickly addressed the change in Cassie’s situation with antibiotics when she was diagnosed with pneumonia.
Being young and strong are factors in Cassie’s favor. It’s tough to take the situation in stride, especially after how well she reacted on Wednesday, but doctors advise patience.
For those who don’t know what happened, Cassie and her mount, Heviola, fell in the 1.40-meter Classic at the HITS show in Ocala.The 10-year-old Dutchbred mare was unhurt, but Cassie suffered the TBI in her fall.
Cassie is an accomplished rider who won the $100,000 Grand Prix de Penn National last year and the World Champion Hunter Rider Pro Challenge at the Capital Challenge Horse Show in 2019.
Cassie winning the Grand Prix de Penn National. (Andrew Ryback photo)
She was going fast in the jump-off at HITS when two distances to the next jump appeared. One was an inside turn, the other was a longer distance.
“I was watching and saw both distances,” said Emil.
“I saw the flyer; she was trying to fit in the shorter one, the horse was trying to pick up on the longer one and left early.”
The horse fell and her rider “got catapulted off the side.”
She hit her head just above her temple and left eye and back to the side; that’s where the contusions are on the scan, according to Emil, adding her only other injury is a big bruise on her side.
Emil noted that like every other rider, Cassie has fallen more than once.
“She always gets up and dusts off her pants and says `Let’s try again.’ She’s tough.”
But this time, it didn’t happen that way.
“It was really a miscommunication. It wasn’t Heviola’s fault and it wasn’t Cassie’s fault,” said Emil.
