Amanda and Jack Watt: Road to Healing

Hey everyone, my name is Gabby and I have known Jack Watt for the past 6 years. We met each other at the racetrack and while working alongside one another, I made many attempts to crack through Jack’s seemingly tough exterior. I eventually succeeded and almost regretted my decision to try to break through – turns out that once you get Jack talking, he won’t shut up! My earliest memories of our developing friendship were of sitting in a small concrete office on the backside of Churchill Downs after a long day (for both of us) and just decompressing by discussing current events or local restaurants and breweries around Louisville. Eventually I started working for Northrop Equine with Jack and became his veterinary technician. Over the years, my boyfriend Caleb and I met Jack’s kind and caring wife, Amanda and the four of us became fast friends. We have watched Jack and Amanda’s family grow with the birth of their two adorable boys, Carter(4) and James(10mo.).

Unfortunately, this is not just a lovely story of a friendship. Saturday, March 7th, while on vacation in Canada with his family, Jack fell down a flight of stairs and hit his head hard enough to be knocked unconscious. Luckily his niece witnessed his fall and he was air lifted to the hospital. Because of the nature of the incident, they wanted to get him to the Calgary hospital so that a neurosurgeon could assess the damage to his brain. After a fight against the snow and winter conditions, he was flown to the Calgary hospital and it was determined that he needed to have an occipital craniotomy – essentially they were going to cut open his skull in order to access the bruises and swelling on his head. He had a very large hematoma at the base of his skull and several other contusions. The surgery took over 5 hours but was successful and they were able to relieve the pressure on his brain. After surgery, they roused him and he was able to move all 4 limbs on command.

Since the surgery he has had a CT scan to further assess his condition and his brain function has been monitored. He was recently taken off the ventilator and in the past couple of days, made great progress toward clearing the cobwebs that seem to have gathered in his head. He has a long way to go toward a complete recovery but all signs so far seem positive.

I know everyone has their own story of how they know Jack and Amanda but the one thing we all have in common is that we all love them and their kind, joyful spirits. The medical expenses for this incident (having happened in another country) will be unfathomable and I am hoping that we can try to make the number a bit less overwhelming for Jack and his family. If you know and love Jack and Amanda as I do and can spare any amount, it will go a long way towards helping their family feel a bit more stable in this uncertain time. As veterinarians, Jack and Amanda both spend their days caring for animals in need and spend their personal time caring for their two young boys. I’m hoping we can come together to help take care of them.