Being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes is a life sentence, but one Payson native has taken the diagnosis head-on and by the horns.
Literally.
When Westlee Jones was six years old, on December 14, 2007, to be exact, he was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, which is also considered type 1 diabetes. Growing up in a family that is physically active both helped and exacerbated the issue, because adrenaline spikes insulin. Even so, Jones kept at it. He played baseball for Salem Hills High School and later earned a scholarship to Kentucky Christian University.
Even though baseball served as a great vehicle for him, he was playing in the wrong arena.
“I grew up watching my dad rodeo, and so it’s kind of something that I always wanted to do, but my parents wanted me to go to college first and so I went to college,” Jones said. “That fall, I tore my labrum and I couldn’t play, so I started hanging out at a guy’s house down in Tennessee, and he would let me step around bulls down there.”
Being around bulls rekindled what Jones said was a long time love of rodeo – in particular, bullfighting.
“College baseball wasn’t panning out to be what I expected, so I dropped out, and the fall of 2021 is when I started rodeo,” Jones said.
In March of 2022, Jones entered his first bullfighting competition, winning his first round and taking home an overall second place. He went on to win his next three events with the Ultimate Bullfighters tour, and by the end of the year, had qualified for the World Championship in Fort Worth Texas. In January 2023, he got an invitation to participate in a PBR (Professional Bull Riders) event in Duluth Georgia.
Fighting bulls is an adrenaline-inducing sport, and Jones said that he started to notice some changes in his body that were affecting his performance.
“Certain things play into what my blood sugar is going to do, and adrenaline’s one of them,” Jones said. “Typically I’ll leave my insulin pump plugged in up until the barrel racing right before the bull riding. Adrenaline tends to spike my blood sugar, and if I’m not on top of it before, it’ll get really bad.
“I had an instance earlier this year at a freestyle bullfight when my adrenaline spiked really high. I was giving insulin, giving insulin, giving insulin, giving insulin, and it wouldn’t come down. The next morning, my wife couldn’t get me to wake up. My blood sugar dropped so low because the adrenaline finally wore out of the system and the insulin was able to catch back up and it hit me all at once.
“I try to not let it, but diabetes plays into it a lot more than what people would think,” he continued. “If I’m not on top of it and managing it well up until the point when I have to go out and do my job as a bullfighter, my performance will not be up to par.”
Jones has been keeping on top of things, and it has shown in his recent performances.
The last two years he’s qualified for the American Freestyle Bullfighting World Finals, and this year he went in at the number three spot in the world. In the Fall of 2023, he earned his PRCA permit, which as a bullfighter, is akin to earning professional status. This year alone, he has worked 16 PRCA rodeos and is now a full PRCA cardholder.
“2025 is looking even better,” Jones said. “I have 26 pro rodeos on top of some of the amateurs and then some of the freestyle bullfights that I go to. It’s all that I’ve ever dreamed of and it’s all I could ask for, so it’s going amazing!”
Jones said that diabetes has made him work harder to achieve his goals, and made him a very tough competitor. He encouraged those who have health struggles or any type of struggle to keep working toward your goals.
“Don’t let anybody tell you you can’t do anything because at the end of the day, this disease doesn’t control you; you control it,” he said. “It took me years to figure that out and to grow into the person that I am. With anything in life, you’ll always have somebody telling you that you shouldn’t be doing this or that, or that you’re not in good enough shape to do that or your health is enough to do that. But at the end of the day it’s your story, it’s not theirs.”
As for the rest of Jones’ story, he has plenty of more pages to add, including a freestyle bullfight in Loveland Colorado in January and a goal of working the circuit finals.
“Make it the best,” he said. “You can do everything that you wanna do. At the end of the day, you’re the only person stopping you. So, Always chase your dreams.”
For updates on Jones’ bullfighting journey he can be found on Instagram @officialwesjones_bullfighter.
