Update on Blakes Camo Crutches
02-18-2005, 08:54 PM
#1
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Chatsworth IL USA
Posts: 5,012
Update on Blakes Camo Crutches
As a big favor to HNIJustin, I am giving a little more background on Blake so others will understand where the post from the crutches came from. So I will try and break it down fairly quick..as quick as I can anyway.
Blake is a 14 year old that lives about 8 miles from me. Although I bow hunted within 1 mile of him for the past couple years, I didn't actually meat him face to face until October of 2004. We chit chatted back and forth in email for well over a year though.
During the summer of '03, Blake found out he had cancer in his right leg that required a pretty major surgery and chemo therapy to kill the cancer. He had about 3 inches of his femur removed. He didn't make too many hunting trips that year because he couldn't put any pressure on his leg. So to make a long and painful season quick in my story, I will fast forward to the summer of '04.
During the summer of '04 he got a new bow and proceeded to wear a block target to nothing. I keep telling him to take a picture of it and send it in and they would probably replace it, since he is getting pass throughs in just a couple months of shooting. He was getting pumped for bow season to start and looking forward to a Elk hunting trip in Wyoming that Hunt of a Lifetime was sending him on.
It was the last week of September and for the guys from Illinois, you all know that is days from the season opener, and Blake got the bad news. All the surgeries and chemo the prior year was for nothing, the leg now needed to be amputated to prevent the cancer from spreading. This was rough news for us all, but the worst of news for Blake. He didn't take it well as anybody could imagine.
Prior to his surgery, he got to get a couple of hunts in at Muddy Rivers Lodge and had a very close encounter with a 160 class 9 pointer.
The surgery was on October 5 and went well. I posted updates in the off season frequently as to keep everybody updated. Here is the link to the updates if anybody wants to see what was going on.
http://forum.hunting.net/asppg/tm.as...1&key=򿵖
The support he received from every body here was great and I forwarded all good wishes to him via email. He received a couple nice care packages from Sunset at Rushcreek and from Cooper here at Huntingnet.
As days went on he was determined to make his elk hunt at the end of the month and even squeezed in a deer hunt down at Muddy Rivers 2 weeks after his surgery. On the 23 of October he was on his way to Wyoming to shoot an Elk. Here was a post from my visit the night before he left if you are interested.
http://forum.hunting.net/asppg/tm.as...1&key=󃹋
And after just 21 or 22 days from the day of his surgery, he managed to take down a mighty impressive Bull. We rough scored him in the 340 to 350 range.
Shotgun season here in Illinois proved to be just as good for him. He took down this impressive Whitetail with his muzzle loader.
And he even managed to meet a handful of celebrities amongst the hunting community.
After all that commotion he still had to squeeze in many rounds of chemo, but hunting season kept him going.
After numerous visits to his house and always seeing him on crutches that he had taped in camo from one end to another, and also listening to him mom telling him he needs to re-tape them because they were dirty and fraying, gave me a great idea. So this is where my quest started. I was on a mission to get him a nice set of crutches, a one of a kind set.
So with the help of my trusted friends in the tech forum, I searched for a dipping facility to help me out. I got around 5 companies to look in to, and immediately sent emails to each one. I never asked for a free job, nor did I ask for a discount. I simply asked for a cost of dipping 1 set of crutches and gave them a run down of his cancer and how much he enjoys the outdoors.
To my surprise (and disappointment) I only reviewed one response. But the one response was the best that I could have hoped for. The kind folks at Waterdog Surface Technologies offered up their services for nothing. Now for some of the guys that don't know, Waterdog is a subsidiary of BowTech Archery.
Everybody in the tech forum pulled together and offered up crutches and any help they could provide. As I was keeping this a secret from Blake, I called his dad to make sure he was alright with me doing this and to find out if they had any crutches laying around to send in. A few days later, I had a nice new set of crutches in hand to send in.
The guys at Waterdog turned these things around in 3 or 4 days and had them sent back to me. Talk about a turnaround. I am sure the guys at Waterdog are getting tired of my emails endlessly thanking them for what they have done and I don’t think they know how much I appreciate the great service they provided.
Then last night, crutches in one hand and a hat and picture from the Waterdog crew in the other hand, I headed out to his house. When I got there and walked in with a big BowTech box, I had to break his heart and tell him it wasn’t a bow. But for some reason I don’t think he was disappointed in the least. The crutches just came out flawless, and he didn’t know what to say. He just kind of stared at them and rubbed them. I think he was holding back. But as you can see in the picture, his smile says it all.
Here is a little closer look at the crutches.
There is so much more that can be said about this brave young man. But we will leave it at this for now. So thanks to everybody on the boards that supported him and thanks to everybody that helped me in these trying times.
Justin, I hope I didn't make this too long. But I didn't feel right just makeing it short and leaving out his remarkable road to recovery. He is still doing some chemo, and we all hope he is almost finished.
Blake is a 14 year old that lives about 8 miles from me. Although I bow hunted within 1 mile of him for the past couple years, I didn't actually meat him face to face until October of 2004. We chit chatted back and forth in email for well over a year though.
During the summer of '03, Blake found out he had cancer in his right leg that required a pretty major surgery and chemo therapy to kill the cancer. He had about 3 inches of his femur removed. He didn't make too many hunting trips that year because he couldn't put any pressure on his leg. So to make a long and painful season quick in my story, I will fast forward to the summer of '04.
During the summer of '04 he got a new bow and proceeded to wear a block target to nothing. I keep telling him to take a picture of it and send it in and they would probably replace it, since he is getting pass throughs in just a couple months of shooting. He was getting pumped for bow season to start and looking forward to a Elk hunting trip in Wyoming that Hunt of a Lifetime was sending him on.
It was the last week of September and for the guys from Illinois, you all know that is days from the season opener, and Blake got the bad news. All the surgeries and chemo the prior year was for nothing, the leg now needed to be amputated to prevent the cancer from spreading. This was rough news for us all, but the worst of news for Blake. He didn't take it well as anybody could imagine.
Prior to his surgery, he got to get a couple of hunts in at Muddy Rivers Lodge and had a very close encounter with a 160 class 9 pointer.
The surgery was on October 5 and went well. I posted updates in the off season frequently as to keep everybody updated. Here is the link to the updates if anybody wants to see what was going on.
http://forum.hunting.net/asppg/tm.as...1&key=򿵖
The support he received from every body here was great and I forwarded all good wishes to him via email. He received a couple nice care packages from Sunset at Rushcreek and from Cooper here at Huntingnet.
As days went on he was determined to make his elk hunt at the end of the month and even squeezed in a deer hunt down at Muddy Rivers 2 weeks after his surgery. On the 23 of October he was on his way to Wyoming to shoot an Elk. Here was a post from my visit the night before he left if you are interested.
http://forum.hunting.net/asppg/tm.as...1&key=󃹋
And after just 21 or 22 days from the day of his surgery, he managed to take down a mighty impressive Bull. We rough scored him in the 340 to 350 range.
Shotgun season here in Illinois proved to be just as good for him. He took down this impressive Whitetail with his muzzle loader.
And he even managed to meet a handful of celebrities amongst the hunting community.
After all that commotion he still had to squeeze in many rounds of chemo, but hunting season kept him going.
After numerous visits to his house and always seeing him on crutches that he had taped in camo from one end to another, and also listening to him mom telling him he needs to re-tape them because they were dirty and fraying, gave me a great idea. So this is where my quest started. I was on a mission to get him a nice set of crutches, a one of a kind set.
So with the help of my trusted friends in the tech forum, I searched for a dipping facility to help me out. I got around 5 companies to look in to, and immediately sent emails to each one. I never asked for a free job, nor did I ask for a discount. I simply asked for a cost of dipping 1 set of crutches and gave them a run down of his cancer and how much he enjoys the outdoors.
To my surprise (and disappointment) I only reviewed one response. But the one response was the best that I could have hoped for. The kind folks at Waterdog Surface Technologies offered up their services for nothing. Now for some of the guys that don't know, Waterdog is a subsidiary of BowTech Archery.
Everybody in the tech forum pulled together and offered up crutches and any help they could provide. As I was keeping this a secret from Blake, I called his dad to make sure he was alright with me doing this and to find out if they had any crutches laying around to send in. A few days later, I had a nice new set of crutches in hand to send in.
The guys at Waterdog turned these things around in 3 or 4 days and had them sent back to me. Talk about a turnaround. I am sure the guys at Waterdog are getting tired of my emails endlessly thanking them for what they have done and I don’t think they know how much I appreciate the great service they provided.
Then last night, crutches in one hand and a hat and picture from the Waterdog crew in the other hand, I headed out to his house. When I got there and walked in with a big BowTech box, I had to break his heart and tell him it wasn’t a bow. But for some reason I don’t think he was disappointed in the least. The crutches just came out flawless, and he didn’t know what to say. He just kind of stared at them and rubbed them. I think he was holding back. But as you can see in the picture, his smile says it all.
Here is a little closer look at the crutches.
There is so much more that can be said about this brave young man. But we will leave it at this for now. So thanks to everybody on the boards that supported him and thanks to everybody that helped me in these trying times.
Justin, I hope I didn't make this too long. But I didn't feel right just makeing it short and leaving out his remarkable road to recovery. He is still doing some chemo, and we all hope he is almost finished.
02-18-2005, 11:10 PM
#3
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Burleson TX USA
Posts: 6,455
RE: Update on Blakes Camo Crutches
Mitch.
Blake is a very brave young man most people would have just given up.
Once again thanks not only to Water Dog but also to you for making it happen.
Hope you have let him know that there are a lot of us on here who have been keeping him in our prayers.
Blake is a very brave young man most people would have just given up.
Once again thanks not only to Water Dog but also to you for making it happen.
Hope you have let him know that there are a lot of us on here who have been keeping him in our prayers.
02-19-2005, 12:26 AM
#4
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Alvo Nebraska USA
Posts: 2,057
RE: Update on Blakes Camo Crutches
What a great story about great people!! I've seen this kind of generosity many times throughout the hunting community,, but this one really pulls at my heart strings.
Thanks for sharing with us Blake and Mitch
Good luck this season Blake!!!!
Thanks for sharing with us Blake and Mitch
Good luck this season Blake!!!!
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