Make A Wish Fishing Story

I know that a lot of the anglers have heard of Make A Wish Foundation, or have had dealings with them. I must say it is one of life's great pleasures to pitch in and help a child with a lifetime dream that is terminaly ill.

A few years ago I  got that pleasure to contribute a little of my time and help a dream come true.

I was working for Bass Pro at the time and the manager Jim Osborne approached me and ask if I would be willing to put on a demonstration for a little guy named Thomas. It was his dream to get up on our fishing tank with Madman and fish. I felt very honored to have been asked to help out. There was only one answer that I could give and that was YES.

Thomas arrived at Bass Pro with His parents in a Long Black Limo On a August day and was greeted by the Store Manager Jim Osborne.

Jim presented Thomas with a Bass Pro T-Shirt and Hat then they proceeded inside where Thomas got to meet Madman, and was suited up first with a Madman T-Shirt, which Thomas put on right then.

We both proceeded up the ladder of our demonstration tank full of bass, crappie, catfish and bream. This tank is used to show customers how the different bait looks in the water, and how the fish react to the lures. The hooks are removed so no harm willcome to the fish.

To start it off I described what a Madman Crawdad was and while I was explaining the lure, Thomas was throwing the crowd a bunch of crawdads. Then Thomas and I proceeded to fish.

I would cast the line in due to the low building ceiling that we had back then, and Thomas would reel it in. Needless to say, Thomas had almost caught every Bass in the tank if there had been a real hook on the lure. Thomas got to feel the Bass come up and hit the bait and had the time of his life.

Back a few years ago I would feed the fish after a demonstration with small bream that I caught at a near by lake. On this special occassion I was going to let Thomas do the feeding.

What we would do is get someone from the crowd to get real close to the glass, and Thomas would throw the bream in the tank. Who ever was watching to see what fish got it had to scream out he got it. Then Thomas would throw out a Bass Pro T-Shirt.

After we had fed the fish, we proceeded down to rejoin his parents, and at this time Bass Pro and Madman presented Thomas with his own Bait cast rod and reel.

I told Thomas we did not want him to go home to his lake without  a rod and reel, already set up with a crawdad. Madman also presented Thomas with a necklace that was just chucked full of different colored Crawdads. 

The parents contacted Make a Wish later and told them the first day back in school Thomas wore that necklace to school and would not take it off.

I do not know if anyone else in this world got the enjoyment I did that day and will always be in my mind and heart. If you ever have a chance to give to Make A Wish Foundation, Please do and like the old saying it will come back to you in ten fold.

I later tried to contact Make A Wish to see how Thomas was doing and they told me they would keep us posted, but could not tell us where Thomas was from, or what Hospital that he was in.

Make A Wish has a policy that they can not disclose the where abouts of Thomas. All I can do is Pray for him and know that I contributed to making his wish come true and looking into his face and seeing the eyes sparkle.

Many thanks to Bass Pro and Make A Wish Foundation for helping make a small childs dream come true.

I have attached some pictures of the special day that are in my scrapbook, and I wanted to share them with you.
 
Keep The Hooks Wet!

Steve McGoldrick 

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