One tough cowgirl: Local girl recovering from brain surgery

The horseshoe-like imprint of stitches on Ainsley Turner’s head are nearly unnoticeable now though it might be considered fitting for the cowgirl.

The Comanche seven-year-old, who is scheduled to start second grade at Comanche Elementary School next month, is back home after undergoing brain surgery in late June.

It started out as what her parents and doctors thought might have been a virus, food allergy or acid reflux in early May and quickly turned into something more serious in June.

“She had gotten sick four times at school, and she kept getting sick for a while afterwards,” Cashe Turner said. “We thought maybe it might have just been a virus that she couldn’t get rid of.”

Doctors treated her for acid reflux and that worked somewhat for a while, but then came the Jim Bowie Days Rodeo Association in Bowie, Texas the last week in June. Ainsley did not let the sickness keep her from winning the All-Around Cowgirl title, but after competing in an event and walking back to where her parents C.L. and Cashe sat, a friend sitting with them noticed something a little off about Ainsley and mentioned it to Cashe.

“She was walking with her head tilted with one eye closed,” Turner said. “I asked her what was wrong and she said she was seeing double.”

That’s when the Turners knew something was really wrong, so they took her to a hospital in Lawton for an MRI. It was supposed to take two to four business days for the result, but Cashe’s brother is a doctor in Kansas and he asked the hospital to send him the results as soon as they had them.

“We weren’t far out of Lawton when my brother called and said she had a massive tumor on her brain,” Cashe said.

The condition came as a total surprise to the Turners. There was no family history of this happening before.

They took her straight to OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City where another MRI was done and confirmed the diagnosis. She was originally scheduled for surgery the next week, but things fell into place for them to go ahead with the surgery the next day.

The surgery went well and the surgeons think they got everything though that won’t be confirmed until there are follow-up appointments.

Ainsley was released from the hospital on June 29 and returned home. Everything is going as smoothly as can be expected though being cooped up in the house is hard on a cowgirl.

“She wants to go outside but we have to keep her inside because because we have to keep the incision clean,” Cashe said.

Otherwise, Ainsley’s attitude has been positive about the situation she is in.

“She’s already talking about riding horses, rodeoing, playing and swimming,” Cashe said.

And as far as the horseshoe-shaped incision, it is a perfect match for her horse’s shoe.

The community response has been overwhelming.

“Our friends, family and the community have really supported us,” Cashe said. “We have people telling us they are praying for us. I’ve had people call to get our address so they could send us a check to help with the medical bills. You don’t realize the support you have sometimes.”

There is a gofundme page named “Ainsley’s Fight,” and another supporter sold “Cowgirl Tough like Ainsley,” t-shirts to help the family. The gofundme account can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/ainsleys-fight.