Cattle auction raises over $10K for Four Corners woman with rare form of cancer

KIRKLAND, N.M. – Living in rural New Mexico has its challenges when it comes to health care because of the limited amount of providers in small communities. And to make a difficult situation worse is when someone is diagnosed with a rare form of illness, where treatment could be a day’s drive away. 

One Farmington woman has found herself in that exact situation. Crista Crowder, a young mother of three, has been diagnosed with a rare form of Sarcoma. She exhausted all treatment options available in New Mexico and Colorado, now she’s hoping a different state can help save her life. 

“They don’t know what to do next so we are trying to get to Texas, Houston Texas to get a second opinion, third opinion,” Crowder said.  

And that third opinion doesn’t take out-of-state insurance, so the expenses are up to Crista and her family to pay. 

“We’re self-pay for the first appointment they said it costs about $25,000, they specialize in these things and they do research and everything, so we are hoping they have more knowledge of it I guess,” Crowder said. 

But she is not alone in this fight, the community packed the seats of the Cow House Live Stock Auction building this afternoon, to raise money for Crista’s cause. 

“One of our local producers here donates a heifer, and we run the heifer in the ring, and we auction it off and usually they will donate the heifer right back, and we auction it off again, they donate it back, and we auction it off again,” said Shane Hatch auctioneer and manager of the Cow House.

All the money spent on the heifer helps Crista get to Texas, “I am just humbled by how the community gets behind the people here and get in their pockets and donate. There is not ever a day in your life where you get to make a difference in somebody else’s life and help them along and today is going to be one of those days,” Hatch added. 

And it was one of those days, a giving community of farmers, and ranchers helped raise $10,087 for Crista. 

Hatch added that helping Crista with her fight isn’t just a one-day thing, but will be an ongoing effort for the people of the Four Corners.