Some of you, who follow Benefit4Kids, know that the organization provides “Outdoor Wishes” for terminally ill and life limited children. These wishes are not “canned” packages to Disney Land, but wishes designed by the kids themselves and provided at no cost to the child or their family. This year, Kyle Harris who suffers from Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, was granted an “Outdoor Wish” to hunt Brown bear in Alaska. As with any “Outdoor Wish”, there are always challenges to overcome with scheduling and finding the right place to grant the wish. Kyle’s wish trip was extraordinary as it involved multiple organizations and logistics above and beyond normal wishes that B4K grants.

Heavy rains and flooding had been covering the area where Kyle was supposed to hunt for his Brown bear and the outfitter, Renfro’s Alaskan Adventures had not been seeing any Brown bears in the area at all. Kyle and his dad had this already planned with work time off and decided to go ahead with the trip even though the outfitter wanted to cancel. They had spotted many Black bears and, at the last minute, arranged for a Black bear tag for Kyle. On day 5, Kyle did have a shot on a Black bear, but then found out that his scope was damaged in transit and was unable to connect.

On day 6, Kyle, who was wet and cold, came down with a cold. It is not uncommon for Kyle to get pneumonia 2-3 times a year as his immune system has been drastically affected by the chemo that he has undergone due to his Lymphoma. It was decided to get on the bush plane out as a precaution in case his cold turned into something worse.

After 2 days of bed rest in Anchorage, Kyle was feeling better and rather than go home early decided to enjoy some of the Alaskan beauty. Kyle and his dad were still able to make the best out of it with a trip to Denali National Park and a charter fishing trip. They were able to send 32 pounds of fish home. Kyle even caught an Octopus. Of course, Kyle was really disappointed that he was unable to harvest his bear, however, Kyle also knows that it is not the harvest that makes the trip, but the experience. Kyle was still able to spend time with his dad and ended up with some great life experiences.

As always, it is the supporters of Benefit4Kids that come through. This trip would not have been possible without the support of the West Michigan Fishing League and the Safari Club, Flint Michigan Regional Chapter. Those 2 organizations donated HUGE for Kyle to get his “Outdoor Wish”. Renfro’s Alaskan Adventures, who were the guides on this trip and also guided on another wish trip, have stepped up to the plate and offered to guide Kyle on another bear hunt next year and get this, at no charge.  Even though,  Benefit4Kids can only grant 1 wish trip per child, this could be a second chance for Kyle and his family to get the wish granted.

Benefit4Kids is a 100% volunteer 501c(3) non profit organization whose primary mission is to provide “Outdoor Wishes” to terminally ill and life limited children. To find out more about Benefit4Kids, go to www.B4K.org or call 877-245-5430.

Steve Hearing
Labsteve
Benefit4Kids

By Miscellaneous Authors

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