Like most guys I like to think I'm pretty tough but today a 12 year old made me cry.
On Sunday April and I were at an outdoor show selling tickets for the
Ultimate Sportsmen's Raffle . On Sunday morning we were introduced to a young boy with Cerebral Palsy that we'll be sending on an Outdoor Wish hunt. As most of you know we've been working hard to find kids that have terminal or life limiting illnesses to send on Outdoor Wish hunts so this made our whole weekend worthwhile.
Later in the day we had the folks running the show make an announcement that if anyone knew of any kids that qualified to come see us at our booth so we could possibly help them out. As they made the announcement there was a young boy and his Mom standing not 30 feet from our booth. His Mom listened to the message and looked over at us and asked if we were the folks they just announced. Well it turns out that her 12 year old son John who was with her suffers from epilepsy and had to have surgery to remove part of his brain to help reduce his seizures. The surgery left his right side mostly paralyzed and he had been working real hard to get his motion back on that side. Although still suffering some paralysis he had just recently been able to start shooting a gun again and was going to soon be taking his hunters safety course.
We asked John if he could go on any hunt what would it be. He just looked up at April and said "I'd like to get a big buck". Well I got their number and promised to get in touch with them this week to set something up. At that point John's smile somewhat faded but he thanked us and he and his Mom walked away.
This morning I called John's Mom to tell her that I have a trophy whitetail hunt set up for him in Missouri and all we need to do is have her contact the outfitter and set the date up when her and John could go down there. She was in a hurry to get John to school so I didn't get to tell her about the hunt but did tell her we had one for him. I promised to call her back in a 1/2 hour.
When I called back and had a chance to talk to John's Mom I had the chance to learn a little more about the hell and frustration John has been going through since his surgery. He fights hard each day to regain the use of his right side and wants to be able to hunt and fish when he gets better. I also found out that many people have made promises to John that they have not kept. It appears that on Sunday when we told him we'd be "in touch" John thought it would be just another promise made but not kept. When his Mom told him it was me on the phone about a hunt we had for him his Mom said he just looked at her like he was going to cry and said "WOW Mom those people are for real aren't they".
I can't imagine someone making a promise to a kid like John and not keeping it. When his Mom told me what he had said it made me realize the hurt others had caused him must have been a real blow to his heart. That's when what he said made me cry.
But now thanks to all of the donations the outdoor community has given to B4K over the years John will go on a hunt to "get a big buck" and maybe a little of his faith in others has been restored. For giving me the opportunity to help kids like John I cannot thank you enough but whenever I can I promise I will share these special moments with you. Gotta go cause my monitor is getting blurry again. Thanks and God Bless.
Steve Pray
President, Benefit4Kids
...He Made Me Cry...
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