Thursday, February 03, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

C. DOUGLAS NIELSEN: Foundation helps sick children Catch A Dream

Unless you're an outdoor retailer or supplier -- or a fortunate outdoor writer -- chances are you didn't attend the 2005 SHOT Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center last weekend. Count your blessings if you were lucky enough to find a ticket.

The Shooting, Hunting Outdoor Trade Show has been touted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation as "the premier market place" for the outdoor and shooting industry. The show is so large, with so many exhibitors, that I began to tire looking at all the gadgets, guns, clothing options and equipment.

After only four or five hours of wandering the aisles, I was in sensory overload and had to take a break. It was then that I met Martin Brunson, Ph.D.

I saw his booth tucked back along the corridor wall just outside of the main exhibit hall. There was no crowd clamoring for his attention, no flashing lights, no full-figured model to catch the eye of passersby. He was not demonstrating the latest design of this or the newest model of that, but what he had to say put all other aspects of the show into perspective.

Brunson, a wildlife and fisheries professor from Mississippi State, was representing the Catch-A-Dream Foundation, a nonprofit organization that grants once-in-a-lifetime outdoor experiences to children who suffer from life-threatening illnesses. The organization was the vision of the late Bruce Brady, a noted outdoor writer and sculptor from Mississippi who found strength in the outdoors while dying of cancer.

"In his last months of life," Brunson said, "Bruce learned that our friends at the Make-A-Wish Foundation had been forced to establish a national policy that would no longer allow a child to express their wish for anything that involved hunting or recreational use of firearms. As Bruce was dealing with his own illness, he was convinced that this was an unfair situation and set about to conceive a program that would fill the gap."

Brady died in 2000, before the Catch-A-Dream Foundation could be brought to fruition. Upon his death, however, Mississippi State, the Mississippi Wildlife Federation, Brady's family and some friends created the foundation as a memorial to Brady. While trips to Disneyworld and things like a personal computer are good, this program allows the foundation and its volunteers to serve children who have a life threatening illness and who have as "their great desire to be in the mountains, on the rivers, on the boats in a hunting or fishing venue. We make that possible," Brunson said.

To be eligible, the child must be 18 or younger, a citizen of the United States or Canada and have a life-threatening illness as certified by a physician. For the foundation's purposes, a life-threatening illness is one in which there "is a definable threat or certainty the child will not reach their 19th birthday."

"Our goal is not to put a deer head on the wall or a fish in the freezer, although we make no bones about it, we want that to happen. Our objective is to use that hunting and fishing opportunity to involve that child's family and allow them to be away from the sterility of the environment they've been living in and the stresses," Brunson said.

Once the request for an outdoor experience is granted, the foundation takes care of everything from making arrangements to providing clothing to transportation. In addition, each participant is accompanied by a volunteer host who makes sure the experience is memorable for the child and family.

As I spoke with Brunson, he shared thoughts about the renewed sense of vigor and determination to fight their illnesses that some of the participants have shown after their outdoor experiences. To date, children from 37 states have been granted their outdoor wish.

"That's our purpose," Brunson said. "We want to give them a sense of hope. Bruce Brady himself stated very eloquently that our purpose is not the trophies on the wall, it is to give the hope of an eternal trophy that transcends the hunting and fishing and other things we do."

For information on making a donation to the Catch-A-Dream Foundation, becoming a volunteer or applying for an outdoor experience, visit catchadream.org on the Internet.

Doug Nielsen is a freelance writer, a member of Western Outdoor Writers and a game warden with the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His "In the Outdoors" column is published Thursdays. He can be reached at DougNielsen@att.net.