| Author | Message | ||
     Norma Normington Guest |
John Nolan from the Wisconsin State Journal has written an article on United Special Sportsmen Alliance and it will appear tomorrow [Oct. 5, 2003] in the sports section. The story will bring good news to a wide variety of people statewide who know little or nothing about the beneficial effects hunting has on kids and families. In my opinion, it seems the Wisconsin State Journal seems extremely receptive to the concept of community service. Norma Normington, Editor U.S.S.A. | ||
| Norma Normington Guest |
Hunting a wish The United Special Sportsmen Association has targeted the disabled and terminally ill for free outdoors adventures. Robert Miller, a cash grain farmer from Oconomowoc, walked into Exhibition Hall at the Alliant Center last April 6 with his son Mark. Mark maneuvered his motorized wheel chair into the cavernous convention hall and was quickly besieged by vendors and customers at the annual Deer & Turkey Expo. “Everybody was all excited and they wanted us to know there was a lady who sets up hunts (for disabled and terminally ill people),” recalls Robert Miller, who gave out his phone number to be passed along to her. The following evening, Brigid O’Donoghue called the Millers to inquire into Mark’s health and whether he would be interested in going hunting. O’Donoghue is founder of Bio-Tec Research, Inc., a company located in Pittsville in Wood county, that produces deer and elk foods. It has been her mission the past three years to assist disabled or terminally ill people in fulfilling a wish to go hunting, fishing, camping, or canoeing. The past year, the United Special Sportsmen Association-it’s the non-profit organization she recently founded and of which she is currently president-helped fulfill wishes for more than 200 people. “It was just an idea a few years ago,” O’Donoghue said. The idea was to help encourage people such as Mark Miller. Miller, 15 was inured in fifth grade when a soccer goal toppled and smashed into the back of his skull. It left him paralyzed from the neck down- although he has movement in his right arm and leg. At 10, he had not been old enough to join his brothers-Luke is now a 21-year old- senior at the University of Wisconsin and Nick is a 19-year-old serving in the U.S. Navy-on deer hunts with his father. Last weekend, the sophomore at Oconomowoc High School shot his first buck. Joined by his father and mother, Laura, Mark Miller pulled the trigger on his own rifle to drop an eight-pointer at Thiex’s Pheasant Ranch-it donated the hunt and lodging-in Shawano County. “That’s kind of like a miracle. Not many quadriplegics can do it,” Robert Miller said. To Robert Miller, the hunt was a miracle of sorts. He and his son had gone out the past two deer seasons but didn’t have any luck. Now, Mark Miller has a trophy. “He posed (for pictures) with the biggest smile for the longest time. He was pretty proud. But I thing his father is pretty proud, too,” Robert Miller said “It was a great, great experience. It was the first time we’ve been away from home with his in five years other than to the hospital. It was a big adventure and a big step for us. “I don’t know the physical part of it, but he’s accomplished something –and it’s huge, maybe more in his mind than the physical part of it.” An interested party For O’Donoghue, mother of two teenagers, she need only look to her sleeve-it’s the one, which bears her heart-to arouse sympathy for others. The 39-year-old daughter of Irish parents faced numerous physical and emotional challenges growing up on a dairy farm near Milwaukee. As a baby, she suffered from paralysis on her right side as the result of encephalitis-it is a rare viral infection which inflames the brain and affects only a few thousand people a year in the United States, according to the Mayo Clinic Brain and Nervous System Center-and, among other surgical procedures, survived brain surgery and, more recently, a bout with cancer. “I struggled for six years just to say my own name,” O’Donoghue recalls of a childhood during which she worried her partly shaved head would bring ridicule. Now, the woman whose accomplishments do not include a college degree or a full-time job until she was 30 years old, uses her voice and an unrelenting drive to make her wish-and countless others-come true. “(My life) has been traumatic. I think I bond easily (with children),” O’Donoghue said. “I made it and I’m doing fine.” “My greatest disability has become my asset-that’s my mouth-to promote USSA.” Getting the word out USSA was born out of O’Donoghue’s desire to make a difference in people’s lives, although she admits it took her years to figure out in which capacity she could accomplish her goal. She had no hunting experience, but she neverless saw an opportunity when the Make-A-Wish Foundation announced a few years ago that it would no longer honor requests for hunting trips from terminally ill children. She enlisted sponsors such as Wisconsin Rapids’ Northland Cranberry, Inc.; Matthews Solocam, Inc-it’s a company from Sparta which produces archery equipment-and Safari Club International. She calls upon the work of USSA staff, some of whom work for Bio-Tec Research, to promote its charitable efforts. For instance, Walter Smith, a CPA for Baraboo accounting firm Smith and Moy, is chairman of the board while serving as financial advisor and accountant for Bio-Tec Research. “He is as tough as a nail when he has to be, yet kind hearted and sincere when it comes to these children,” O’Donoghue said. O’Donoghue, who has since become an avid hunter and angler, said she hasn’t been lacking for clients since she got word out about USSA. She has spearheaded publicity for the organization’s causes, getting television coverage on the Outdoor channel and magazine articles in issues of Texas Trophy Hunter, Whitetail Fanatic, Bear Hunting and Boar Hunting. The big break, she said, came following a radio spot on the syndicated national production of the John Boy and Billy Show. “In less than 24 hours we had 42 children,” she said. What followed has been a whirlwind. “We’re just trying to find more kids,” added O’Donoghue, nothing that USSA can help pay for travel expenses to or from anywhere in the United States. In recent months, USSA has assisted in producing hunts for a handful of state residents like Mark Miller in Wisconsin or elsewhere. Among them: •Colby’s Trenton Lieders, 18 paralyzed from a motorcycle accident, shot an eight-point buck last month in Wild Rose. •Dale Block, a black River Falls businessman who has a terminal case of cancer, shot an elk in Iowa last month. Block has been added to USSA’s board of directors. •Chris Davis, a young man from Onalaska who recently passed away following brain cancer, got to go on a boar hunt in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. •Holmen’s Jordan Lafler, 12, is battling cancer and is signed up for a deer hunt in Oklahoma. I never dreamt it would be like this, “said O’Donoghue, who said she’s gotten invaluable assistance and support from people from all walks of life. “You’d be surprised how many Grandpa-type guys call up and want to help and take someone fishing.” To get involved For more information about USSA and its programs, go to www.deerfood.com. Anyone looking to contribute, assist or nominate a disabled or terminally ill person for an outdoors adventure can contact USSA by writing to USSA, 7864 Shotwell Road, Pittsville, WI 54466, calling 1-800-518-8019 or 715-884-2256, or by sending email to biotec@tds.net. John Nolan is an outdoor editor of the Wisconsin State Journal. Hook up with him most evenings at 608-252-6168 or cast your e-mail to outdoors@madison.com |
