FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — Joan Bledsoe has attended every single day of the Franklin Rodeo for 75 years.
The 91-year-old has done it while surviving multiple cancer diagnoses.
The annual three-day event in Franklin marked its 75th year in May. Bledsoe has been there for all of them — and she has no plans to stop.
"I have not and enjoyed every single one of them," Bledsoe said.
Her first cancer diagnosis came 40 years ago. She has been diagnosed twice with breast cancer and twice with colon cancer. Nothing has ever come in the way between her love for the rodeo and animals.
"Because I'm alive at all and able to go to the rodeo, I'm blessed and God has performed a miracle," she said. "Because they didn't think I'd live – they really didn't."
Bledsoe's dad introduced her to the rodeo and horses. She recalls going to one of the earlier events.
“I remember it because the horse broke loose and came up in the stands," she recalled. "Because all we had were football type stands. And it came up and everybody cleared up but my dad and me and we got it.”
That connection to the rodeo world runs deep — and so does her message for others.
"Every person that's on this earth is important. And every person has something to give if they can find it," Bledsoe said.
Bledsoe says she plans on attending the rodeo for many years to come.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Young or old, we all love to play board and card games! Those games become even more important when you are indoors and don't have the ability to get outside, like patients in a hospital. Austin Pollack shares the story of students in a Nashville family who have helped re-launch the Red Wagon project to collect games for patients at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.
- Lelan Statom
