A recent college grad from Bakersfield is spending part of his European vacation in a hospital in Spain after he was gored by a bull during the famous "Running of the Bulls" in Pamplona, Spain.
Every year, the Running of the Bulls draws thousands of thrill seekers. This year, Josh Stevens and Marcus Wolf of Bakersfield were two of them.
We talked to Stevens from the bedside of Wolf. He said when they decided to run, they didn't think this is how they would end up.
It's one of Spain's most popular events - dozens of bulls barreling through the narrow streets while runners bravely try to keep up and stay out of the way.
But injuries are common and this year it was 22 yr. old West High graduate Marcus Wolf who was on the business end of a bull's horn.
His best friend Josh Stevens tells how it went down. "We kinda got separated and he was about 25 feet in front of me. He made it through the first turn which is like a 90 degree turn and got caught in the corner."
If you look closely, Marcus Wolf is on the ground and the bull slips and falls into him. You can see marcus grab his hip.
"I turned around just to see what was behind me and i saw Marcus laying on the ground. He was in pretty immense pain. I think when the bull came around the turn and slipped, one of the horns went right into his hip. The doctor said it went in about 7 cm."
Back at home Marcus' mother Jill was beside herself, not knowing if her son, half a world away, was alright until she heard his voice.
Jill Wolf said, "I called right away. He says he was fine. He went through surgery, just and exploratory thing. The doctors said he just had a fractured hip and a chipped bone."
Jill says her son and his buddy Josh were in Europe celebrating their recent college graduation.
She says their trip may be on hold, but jokes that Marcus' love for adventure will never stop.
"I love him, he's so adventurous. I'm glad that I didn't know about it till after the fact. I knew he was gonna run with the bulls, but you see thousands on TV every year. When i talked him I said 'what happened?' He said, 'I wasn't fast enough.'"
Marcus' friend Josh says doctors tell him his friend should recover just fine.
He says they are already thinking about what they will do for the rest of their trip.
