The week that 11-year-old Miles Gazdik was supposed to show his 6-month-old pig, Peanut, at the Larimer County Fair Aug. 6-10, he broke his knee—despite the challenges he faced, he ended up selling his pig for $10,000 at auction.

Miles Gazdik, 11, is at Children’s Hospital Colorado on Aug. 1 just before the Larimer County Fair when he planned to show his pig, Peanut.

“Just seeing where he was at the day after his surgery, which was Tuesday, I was thinking there was no way he would have that experience,” said Miles’ mother, Lydia. “I’m proud of him for not giving up and persevering through a difficult experience.”

Miles, who lives in Windsor and is a sixth grader at Colorado Early Colleges, is a member of Sage Brush Riders in Berthoud, since his parents, Nate and Lydia, have property in Berthoud—his three older brothers also are part of 4-H with the family participating in it for about eight to nine years.

“Watching my brothers do it made me want to do it,” Miles said. “It’s a great way to learn how to be responsible with stuff.”

Miles, who has shown pigs for three years, injured his knee while riding his dirt bike and colliding with his friend, Logan Fischer, also a 4-H member. He fractured his knee joint and put a hole in his knee capsule, requiring surgery at Children’s Hospital Colorado. He had to wait until the next night for surgery, since the hospital was busy at the time. He was released on Aug. 3, but check-in for his pig was Aug. 6 and the market swine presentation was Aug. 8.

“He couldn’t walk or hardly move on Wednesday (Aug. 4),” Lydia said. “We didn’t know if he was going to be able to do anything at fair. On Thursday, he could move around on crutches.”

The Gazdiks worried that Peanut, a Hampshire pig weighing in at 244 pounds, might knock down Miles during the swine market presentation. They worked with his 4-H leaders, Jenny Brown and Kelly Fischer (Logan’s mother), to allow his brother, Kelson, 13, to show him instead, but the substitution didn’t work for showmanship since Miles needed to be the one there. Miles watched from the sidelines, propped up on his crutches as his pig placed eighth, not doing as well from lack of handler familiarity.

“His brother, Reece (17) also helped take care of the pig at show and helped to do things Miles wasn’t able to do, getting it ready for fair and stuff,” Lydia said.

To prepare, Miles fed and watered his pig every day, sprayed it down and walked it a lot, he said.

“That’s how it became such a good pig,” Miles said. “You’ve got to work hard to have a successful year, and I really think I did a good job of working with it every day, taking care of it. That’s what you need to do.”

Miles recovered enough by Aug. 11 to be able to join more than 2,000 4-H members in the Junior Livestock Sale, getting around using one crutch.

“I love walking it,” Miles said about presenting his pig in front of the judges. “It was a really fun experience to do, and I’m glad I got the chance to do it because of my knee.”

Two companies, A Concrete, Inc., in Johnstown and 4 Rivers Equipment in Greeley, purchased Miles’ pig for $10,000, offering a significant amount for a fair animal.

“It was a huge surprise to him and our family for sure,” Lydia said. “They were just really generous. They saw that he had a difficult experience. After a really bad week for him … it was nice of them to support him, and we appreciate it for sure.”

Miles plans to tithe some of the money from the sale to his church, invest some of it and give the rest to his family to help out, he said.

“They were really generous to me, so I want to be generous with other people,” Miles said. “Earning $10,000, I think it’s a huge blessing.”