Living his Dream

In 2023, hundreds of miles from his home, Blane Woodfin was preparing for doctors to stop his heart.

“For me, open heart surgery, especially at 33 years old, was just an eye-opening experience,” Blane said.

He was born with a heart defect, and over the years it had worsened. Though surgery was not a surprise, it was unsettling. He, his wife Ellie, and their year-old son Tucker packed their things and temporarily moved into a home near the hospital for a month.

There, surrounded by his parents, in-laws, and immediate family, Blane watched Tucker take his first steps and learned Ellie had another baby boy on the way.

All of it was on his mind as he was wheeled into surgery, where doctors temporarily transferred his heart's functions to a bypass machine so they could work on it.

For the first time in his life, his heart had stopped beating.

“I came out of that surgery very different,” he said.

If he were to share one word to describe growing up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Blane would say “adventurous.”

It was a different time, he says, with more open space worth exploring. Blane’s youth was spent shooting guns at the ends of Forest Service roads that cut through the mountains and casting flies in the streams that wind through working cattle ranches at the valley bottom.

“We'd love to go do that type of stuff,” Blane said, “just go test out the four-wheel drive.”

But he found the bulk of his success during that time on the football field. 

Julie Woodfin, Blane’s mother, remembers a sweet boy who was full of joy and loved life about as much as he loved football.

“When he tried out, he told the coach that he wanted to be quarterback,” Julie said. “And that's what happened."

He would end up leading the high school team to a state championship, the last one the Broncs have won to this day, and fielding scholarship offers to play college football.

Playing Division I college football was always his dream, an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of his father, who played defensive end at Tulane.

“He was so excited, and I was excited for him,” Julie remembers, “but in a way, I was nervous because he was not real big, and I was afraid that he was going to get clobbered by somebody.”

One offer stuck out from among the rest. The Air Force Academy offered him the opportunity to continue playing football, get an education and dedicate years to the United States military.

“I was a month from graduating high school, and I was planning on going to Air Force,” Blane said, “then it all went away.”

Blane failed a mandatory medical exam he was told he needed to pass as a condition of the scholarship. The doctor had told him that despite frequent visits throughout his childhood, they’d only now noticed the heart defect.

“We tried to fight it,” Blane said, “but it just wasn't gonna happen.”

“It was tragic,” Julie said. “He was heartbroken, and that broke my heart.”

He’d end up leaving Jackson to attend a state school a few hours away. No football left him directionless which he filled with vices. Noticing he was feeling downtrodden, he quickly transferred to a school out east, started finding football again as a walk-on. Upon graduation, he’d find work managing restaurants.

The work eventually led him back West, where he’d rekindle a romance with his high school sweetheart, Ellie.

“She was definitely one of the big reasons why I wanted to move back,” Blane said.

They’d say their vows, buy a home, and start a life in Bozeman, a few hours north of the valley they grew up in, shortly thereafter.

Blane’s surgery went well, considering the circumstances. Though he’d be left with a pacemaker and blood thinners that forced him to retire some of his riskier hobbies earlier than he’d have otherwise, he was alive.

Two to three days later, while recovering in bed, he had a dream that felt like a message about his own mortality. It made him wonder how he could change his life to more closely align with his personal values.

It’d been years since Blane and Ellie’s move to Bozeman. They had opened multiple restaurants, managed hundreds of employees, built financial footing, and found success.

“It just took off like a freaking rocket from the very beginning,” Blane said.

He had been holding himself and others to a certain level of excellence, but he was tired.

“Stress levels were at an all-time high for me,” Blane said, “and it just kind of got to a breaking point for me.”

Between work, family, and health…

“All the wheels were in motion at that point for me to make a big change in my life,” Blane said.

So he did.

Within the next year, he’d welcome another son, Tripp, to the world and start his new business, Wild Cargo. Within the next two, he’d quit his job, sell his home, and move back to Jackson, his hometown.

Today, he’s months from closing on a new home in the valley while translating many of the skills he learned in the restaurant world, like building teams and creating new design concepts, to Wild Cargo.

“I'd say I'm much more aligned with living my personal dream,” Blane said.

And that’s in large part due to the store which he sees as the sum of his interests and hobbies, a reflection of himself.

“The store is like an extension of my closet,” he said.

Today, Blane’s mentally, emotionally, and physically healthier, whether he is at the park playing with his kids, in the mountains, or heading to the jiu-jitsu mats. He hopes the Wild Cargo community can relate to.

“We're doing lots of different things every day and I think that's a big part of how we dress and how we decide what products make their way into our lives,” Blane said, “Like, I always tell people, I can't wear khakis.”

When Julie looks back on her son’s heart troubles that have spurred a change of direction, she can’t help but feel it all happened for a reason. 

“He’s a lot happier and a lot more relaxed,” Julie said. “He’s as perfect as any son could ever be.”