6th Prize
Hunting Journal with Weatherby Logo (100 awarded)
Johnny Maxwell, Alabama
“My dream hunt is the same dream that I have had for the past 19 years; a hunt with my son for moose up in the Yukon. My son was born on November 11, 1988, and on the day he was born I started a savings account for the ‘trip of our lifetime’ up in the Yukon. The trip I planned back then was to someday take my only son, Trevor, on a very special hunting trip right after graduation from high school and before he started college. Remembering that my dad was so busy making a living for us that he never had time to take my brother and I hunting, I thought I was making sure that would never happen to MY son. Everything went as planned for the next 15½ years as far as our plans for ‘THE’ trip was concerned. We had all our gear picked out including a couple of new low-end production video cameras to record our once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
Things don’t always go as planned as we soon learned. In December of 2004, I suddenly became very ill and spent way too much time in the hospital and far too little time with my family. I was given several initial diagnosis as to what was wrong but they were all basically terminal. First it was a Lou Gherigs disease, then a brain tumor, then MS, but finally, I was given a firm diagnosis of CIDP. A somewhat treatable disease, but with monthly treatments costing over $15,000 each. I have them every month and will as long as I live. Even with insurance the ‘other’ cost stemming from this disease has left my wife with an empty bank account, including my son’s lifetime savings account. I missed the next two out of the last three hunting seasons and are now healthy enough to go hunting again.
Trevor graduated from high school this year and it just kills me that I have had him so pumped up about this great lifetime adventure and cannot fulfill my promise to him. If you select me as your winner, I could do nothing more than probably shed a few tears of gratitude and say thank you. The impact on a son, who is the best God could ever give a man, would be everlasting and never taken for granted. You see, Trevor never complains about all that we have lost, nor did he complain when he had to do things for his dad that a son should never have to do when I was unable to move my legs. He is all about me, and I him. This hunt, if given to me, would really be for him...since that’s what my life is all about anyway. God Bless.”