MIDDLEBURG, Fla. – Dec. 29, 2021, changed 14-year-old Halynn Timms’ life forever. She and her brother were involved in an ATV accident that left her with a fractured skull, bleeding brain, shattered face, broken ribs and patella, crushed sacrum and severely injured right calf.
After months of surgeries and recovery, the Middleburg High School FFA student only had one goal: Be well enough to stand with her pig at the auction at the Clay County Fair.
“She kept telling her doctors, ‘Look, you gotta fix me, because I have a fair. I have a pig,” said Shannon Timms, Halynn’s mother.
“It actually meant a lot because I didn’t think they’d actually let me do it,” Halynn said.
Halynn named her pig Shands Tuff after the hospital and her motto “Halynn Tuff.”
During her recovery, her best friend, Kaylee Smith, also faced a setback. Her pig, Bounty Hunter, unexpectedly died.
Knowing Halynn wanted to make the fair, Kaylee stepped up, offering to show Halynn’s pig for her.
“I felt grateful that I could do something instead of sitting there watching her not do it,” Kaylee said.
The girls spent hours practicing.
“Halynn would be out in her wheelchair at the pigpen giving pointers to Kaylee,” Shannon Timms said. “They just worked together as a team.”
The hard work paid off. Holding on tight to her walker, Halynn stepped into the ring at the auction Friday night with her parents by her side.
“They were trying to put pig boards around me and I told them no. And so I pushed the boards out of the way and she (Shands Tuff) came right up to me,” said Halynn.
As Kaylee walked Shands Tuff, the bids kept rising. Shands Tuff sold for $140 a pound.
Halynn has a message for those in a situation like hers: “Never give up,” she said.
The crash may have changed Halynn’s life forever, but her passion for raising pigs and her friendship with Kaylee are ‘tuffer’ than the pain.
Halynn’s pig also won second in its class at the Clay County Fair. She still has a long road to recovery, but she and her family are grateful for the outpouring of support from the community. Her family also hopes to bring awareness to ATV safety and to remind others that possibilities are endless regardless of injuries or limitations.