07:36 AM PDT on Monday, May 1, 2006

Associated Press

PENDLETON, Ore. -- Rodeo bull rider Wade Leslie earned his spurs in a world awash in primal Americana -- Coors, Copenhagen snuff and Old Glory.

Whether he ever rides one of brutes again may depend on laser acupuncture in France and cell regeneration techniques in China.

In his day he was a top rider in rodeo's most dangerous event, and in 1991 became the only rider ever to score a perfect 100 for a single eight-second ride.

But 10 years later he broke two vertebrae and injured his spinal cord in a car accident. He's been in a wheelchair ever since.

Now Leslie, 41, is betting on treatments in France and China to get back on his feet, and if things go well, back on bulls.

"If I got everything back where I felt confident that I was strong enough and I was working well enough, I would do it," he said.

That attitude draws people to Leslie, said businessman and friend Mike Wallis, owner of Red's Clothing in Pendleton and an amateur roper.

Wallis hopes to raise $43,200 from rodeo cowboys and others to send Leslie abroad for the treatment and to create a fund for other injured rodeo contestants, he said.

Wallis has watched a lot of guys get hurt. "Nobody wants to know them after they broke their back," he said.

Leslie started off fast in 1985 when he was named the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association's runner-up rookie of the year and the Pendleton Round-Up's bull riding rookie of the year. He was the Columbia River Circuit rodeo champion in both 1991 and 1993.

His bad luck began in Colorado in 2000 when a bull threw him, stepping on his leg and breaking it, sidelining him for most of a year.

He was back on the circuit in 2001 and had resumed his other profession, horseshoeing.

But that year, after some beers, he fell asleep at the wheel in Montana, was ejected from his pickup and landed in a ditch.

Police asked him to take a breath test. He tried.

"My back went 'crunch,' and it felt like somebody had stabbed me in the back with a butcher knife," he said.

Police charged him with drunken driving. He pleaded guilty, he says, because he lacked time or money to fight the charge.

Gary Lake, a Medford photographer who's filming a documentary on Leslie's life, says he has watched in amazement at the way Leslie handled the hardships.

Leslie is becoming a silversmith and maker of fine spurs. He tried to resume horseshoeing from his wheelchair but found it took too long to be practicable.

"Wade is just as active as he was when he was bull riding," Lake said. "It hasn't gotten him down, he hasn't given up. He has a hard head and lots of heart."

Leslie, of George, Wash., does daily physical therapy with the aid of a walker.

"I guess it's the bull rider in me that has spurred me on this far," he said. "I could be sour about it, but it wouldn't do me any good."

Leslie started riding steers at age 5 and estimates he has been aboard 1,000 bulls.

The trips for treatment, if he makes them, likely will be in July of 2007.

The Beijing Xishan Hospital specializes in nerve regeneration treatment using fast-regenerating cells from nasal passages.

Leslie has sought alternative treatment before and researched the procedure available in China. It is not yet available in the United States.

Leslie also hopes to go to France for a "laser puncture," a treatment that opens the spinal cord to allow easier passage of nerve cells that process and transmit information in the spinal cord.

Lake plans to accompany Leslie and would love to see his friend get back on his feet.

"If it doesn't happen, he is going to deal with it," he said. "Regardless whether he walks or not, he is coming out victorious."