Charity allows sick kids
to experience outdoor adventure
By: Randy Senior
11/11/2010
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ELLWOOD CITY - For most families, a hunting or fishing trip with the children is all too easily taken for granted. Unfortunately, there are thousands of families who share a love of the outdoors but are burdened by a child's health issues.
The mission of the United Special Sportsman Alliance (USSA), an all-volunteer organization based in Pittsville, Wisc., has been to place hundreds of deserving youngsters on dream hunting and fishing trips.
And with the support of USSA, D.J. Honneffer, a 13-year-old outdoor enthusiast from Ellwood City, was able to experience the hunting excursion of a lifetime in October.
As an eighth-grader at Lincoln High School, Honneffer is a typical young boy who has enjoyed various sports activities.
He reeled in a Northern Pike measuring 36¼ inches at West Branch Reservoir, Ohio. He caught a 20-inch trout in Shenango Township. He was a switch-hitter on his recreational baseball team. He bowled in a youth league at Sim's Lanes.
And yet, his story is atypical in that he has been waging a battle for the past 11 years as he was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, an aggressive form of cancer that affects the skeletal muscles of the body.
"He's had surgeries to remove a rib, his scapula and his collarbone and over the summer, he had a procedure done in the chest wall," said his father, Dan Honneffer. "We just learned that the tumor that the doctors have been focusing on is now pressing on his spine.
"He (D.J.) obviously reacted to all this like it was bad news. But I told him, 'Hey, this never stopped you before.' You've moved on before."
When sponsors Sam and Sonya Holley offered to open their 150-acre Oak Ridge Whitetail Adventures preserve in Windsor, Ohio, for a private hunt last month, Dan Honneffer admitted he didn't know if D.J. was going to be strong enough.
"We were kind of nervous," Dan said. "And because the illness has weakened his left side, D.J.'s not able to shoot a rifle. So they set him up with a Horton Vision 175 crossbow. But after he propped it up on the ledge of a stand, he really took to the crossbow."
And soon after, D.J. shot a 10-point buck weighing 252 pounds with an arrow from the crossbow.
"You couldn't believe the smile on his face, the look of pride he had," said Brigid O'Donoghue, the CEO and founder of USSA, which she began in 2000. "We're just shy of 6,400 of these 'wishes,' these dream hunting and fishing adventures for critically-ill young people, in 35 states now.
"And in the case of D.J.'s hunt in Ohio, I always say there's no place like the great outdoors. I think it's where these children find peace in their hearts. When we see how they live their lives when facing the adversity of threatening illnesses, it changes our lives."
to experience outdoor adventure
By: Randy Senior
11/11/2010
Email to a friendPrinter-friendly
ELLWOOD CITY - For most families, a hunting or fishing trip with the children is all too easily taken for granted. Unfortunately, there are thousands of families who share a love of the outdoors but are burdened by a child's health issues.
The mission of the United Special Sportsman Alliance (USSA), an all-volunteer organization based in Pittsville, Wisc., has been to place hundreds of deserving youngsters on dream hunting and fishing trips.
And with the support of USSA, D.J. Honneffer, a 13-year-old outdoor enthusiast from Ellwood City, was able to experience the hunting excursion of a lifetime in October.
As an eighth-grader at Lincoln High School, Honneffer is a typical young boy who has enjoyed various sports activities.
He reeled in a Northern Pike measuring 36¼ inches at West Branch Reservoir, Ohio. He caught a 20-inch trout in Shenango Township. He was a switch-hitter on his recreational baseball team. He bowled in a youth league at Sim's Lanes.
And yet, his story is atypical in that he has been waging a battle for the past 11 years as he was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, an aggressive form of cancer that affects the skeletal muscles of the body.
"He's had surgeries to remove a rib, his scapula and his collarbone and over the summer, he had a procedure done in the chest wall," said his father, Dan Honneffer. "We just learned that the tumor that the doctors have been focusing on is now pressing on his spine.
"He (D.J.) obviously reacted to all this like it was bad news. But I told him, 'Hey, this never stopped you before.' You've moved on before."
When sponsors Sam and Sonya Holley offered to open their 150-acre Oak Ridge Whitetail Adventures preserve in Windsor, Ohio, for a private hunt last month, Dan Honneffer admitted he didn't know if D.J. was going to be strong enough.
"We were kind of nervous," Dan said. "And because the illness has weakened his left side, D.J.'s not able to shoot a rifle. So they set him up with a Horton Vision 175 crossbow. But after he propped it up on the ledge of a stand, he really took to the crossbow."
And soon after, D.J. shot a 10-point buck weighing 252 pounds with an arrow from the crossbow.
"You couldn't believe the smile on his face, the look of pride he had," said Brigid O'Donoghue, the CEO and founder of USSA, which she began in 2000. "We're just shy of 6,400 of these 'wishes,' these dream hunting and fishing adventures for critically-ill young people, in 35 states now.
"And in the case of D.J.'s hunt in Ohio, I always say there's no place like the great outdoors. I think it's where these children find peace in their hearts. When we see how they live their lives when facing the adversity of threatening illnesses, it changes our lives."
