NOT FOR EXTERNAL DISTRIBUTION
SOURCE: Nashville Tennessean
AUTHOR: Cindy Watts
Country singer Mitchell Tenpenny and his dad James Mitchell (Mitch) Tenpenny were eating lunch beside the Buffalo River when they saw the horses go underwater. Two men were trying to cross the river on horseback when the animals fell and didn’t regain their footing.
The Tenpennys jumped into the water to help bring the horses to shore. The animals were lifeless, and the father and son started CPR. James Tenpenny blew into the horse’s nostrils while his son pumped its stomach. They quickly discovered that because James Tenpenny outweighed Mitchell Tenpenny by about 100 pounds, his size gave him an advantage when doing compressions. They switched positions and the horse responded.
When the animal scrambled to its feet, it kicked James Tenpenny in the groin — hard.
Mitchell Tenpenny is teaming with Sarah Cannon to make sure monies from his 10Penny Fund are reaching the people who need them. (Photo: submitted)
With years of hindsight, Mitchell Tenpenny knows that kick bought him precious time with his dad. Two weeks after the accident, James Tenpenny was still in a lot of pain and went to the doctor. While there, they discovered he had cancer. James Tenpenny died in 2014 — more than three years after the incident at Buffalo River. He was 55 years old.
“There was a miracle in him getting kicked by that horse,” Mitchell Tenpenny said. “Had he not been kicked by the horse … he would never have gone to the doctor. It gave me extra years with my dad. I truly believe that. We got that horse (to live), and my dad got a few more years.”
Mitchell Tenpenny still grieves the loss of his father. The platinum-selling “Drunk Me” singer wrote about his dad in “Walk Like Him,” a song from his debut album “Telling All My Secrets.” Fans can see Tenpenny live when he plays the Grand Ole Opry on Aug. 14.
But music isn’t the only way the singer honors his late father.
Mitchell Tenpenny created the 10Penny Fund to provide resources and support services for cancer patients and their families. Now he has teamed with Sarah Cannon, the cancer institute of HCA Healthcare, to grow the reach and impact of the 10Penny Fund.
“I want people to (understand) the mental side of what happens when you hear you have cancer,” said the singer. “There are amazing drugs and amazing doctors … but there’s a completely other side to cancer that I’ve seen personally and that’s the mental side of it. If my father would’ve had access to someone to explain his specific cancer and how to ... treat it mentally, I think it would have … helped from the ground up. That’s ... what I want to start as a charity.”
Dee Anna Smith, CEO of Sarah Cannon, and country singer Mitchell Tenpenny (Photo: submitted)
Tenpenny’s vision is in lockstep with Sarah Cannon’s mission, said Dee Anna Smith, the chief executive officer of Sarah Cannon.
“We loved that idea,” Smith said. “The scientists and the physicians are focused on treating the disease and what we very quickly were reminded of in speaking with (Tenpenny) is … it’s more than that. It’s about the patients and their caregivers and their families and how you react to the big ‘C’ word when it happens to you.”
Sarah Cannon’s role in the partnership will be to help direct monies from the 10Penny Fund to organizations that best help empower people and their families on their cancer journey.
Mitchell Tenpenny (Photo: www.mitchell10penny.com)
Five years after losing his father, the singer still tears up when he talks about him. Tenpenny, the grandson of famed country music publishing executive Donna Hilley, grew up in Nashville but he was at college at MTSU when his dad received the cancer diagnosis. He came home in the middle of the day to do his laundry and found his parents sitting on the couch, which he said never happened. They told him to sit down.
“It’s a blurry thing,” Tenpenny said, recalling the moment they told him his dad had a rare form of cancer. The singer walked out the door and drove around because he didn’t know how to handle the news. If he could relive the moment, he said he wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
“My dad didn’t get sick,” Tenpenny continued. “My dad didn’t show pain. My dad didn’t … you know, he was Dad. He never let me know he was sick. So up until his last few days, I never knew how serious it was. It just eats me up every day thinking, ‘Man, if there was something I could’ve done.’ And that’s what kind of inspires me to do this. I feel like I could’ve helped him.”
The singer was about four years away from signing his major label record deal with Sony Music Nashville when his dad died. The elder Tenpenny never got to see his son top the country radio airplay charts with his song “Drunk Me” or be nominated for new male artist of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards. But through the singer's partnership with Sarah Cannon, benefit concerts, donating a portion of his merchandise sales and with a portal on his website to his charity, he’s using his celebrity to make sure others don’t have the same regrets.
“It’s not easy, but I know that he would want other people to stand a chance,” Tenpenny said. “Everything comes down to access, and that’s what Sarah Cannon does. If you have access, you have the ability.”