Fishing for Tucker=Huge Success!!

Past the seeker as he prayed came the crippled and the beggar and the beaten. And seeing them... he cried, "Great God, how is it that a loving creator can see such things and yet do nothing about them?" God said, "I did do something. I made you." We are so thankful to the people who answered God's call to help us, and in the process put on an amazing event and brought an entire community together. I can not begin to describe last Saturday's bass fishing tournament-Fishing for Tucker....it went better than anyone could have imagined. The first time I heard about a fishing tournament, I was a little skeptical...who would actually pay money to go fishing? Haha! Why would anyone want to attend a "weigh-in" and how does that raise any money? So for anyone who doesn't know, these men (and one woman!) pay to fish, then they compete to catch the biggest group of fish, then the top 14 contestants are paid prize money. 75% of the money goes back to the fishermen, and this event still raised over $7,000. On top of this, sponsors and donations brought in another $12,000. So we are still in a state of shock....but just imagine the possibilities of how this money will impact Tucker's life and future, as well as the HUGE weight that has been lifted off of my shoulders, Chris's shoulders, and our parents' shoulders. It was hard to really grasp the stress level we have been under for years until we have had it lifted like this. What a relief. My cousin Ryan envisioned this tournament months ago, and his wife Jenny, his sister Amy, and her boyfriend Eddie (who is also Ryan's best friend), have worked for months to make this event a reality. Ryan's bass club, the Ascension Area Anglers, held the tournament, and most of the members fished in it. So many others joined them, including my sister Sarah, my aunt Susan and uncle Joey, Mrs. Mia, and my friend Lauren who got so many sponsors and donations...all the men who got up at midnight to go check in boats, and stayed awake for 24 hours....the list goes on and on....if I don't list you specifically, please don't think that your contributions are forgotten. Ryan chose the date because professional fishermen could use Tucker's tournament as practice; it was the first tournament of the year, and while the prizes weren't huge, it was a good chance for the fishermen to get an idea of where the big bass were for the next tournaments. We could not have asked for better weather. It was a BEAUTIFUL day!! I vaguely remembered someone saying that having 50 boats sign up for our first year (yes, this is going to be an annual event) would be phenomenal. 20 men were out at 2am at 3 different sites to check-in boats; I was shocked to learn we got 74 boats!! I was even more surprised when I heard that there were too many volunteers....way too many, actually...people were standing around wondering what to do. All of our cousins were out (and I'm talking third and fourth cousins), from hours away, to volunteer. Friends of ours, friends of friends, church members, and in-laws of our siblings were there. So many people went above and beyond that day. 700 plates of delicious jambalaya were sold, along with tons of sweets from the bake sale. I put out two tri-fold Science Fair boards...one about Tucker, and one about Mitochondrial Disease. We had tons of "Tucker" items, like a firetruck, Mickey Mouse, the Mito Turtle, and his Mickey ears from Disney. I put out the poem Missy wrote "So Full of Pride" with the Mito board. My 10-year-old cousin Morgan held up a huge sign and stayed by the "Tucker" table for over 3 hours telling people about Tucker! My sister Sarah made hundreds of mito awareness ribbons....it was amazing to see a crowd full of people wearing them. My main duty for the day was to keep the star happy!! Which is much harder than it sounds;) Tucker woke up early, but I fed him and got him back to sleep. By 11am, Chris had come home for a nap and left again, and Tucker was pretty mad to be left behind! On Thursday evening we had a run-through at Cabela's (did I mention that Cabela's hosted the whole thing, and Cabela's just happens to be one of Tucker's favorite places!??) and Tucker got super over stimulated and ended up screaming for hours Thursday night. It was a huge meltdown that I did not want repeated. So everyone had strict orders to NOT let Tucker inside (he loves the escalator and elevator, but once he starts riding he literally can't stop.) I fought him all day on this, but luckily there were plenty of people to help me, as well as a big Firetruck to look at!! (My BIL Chris called in some of his buddies, and as long as they didn't have calls, they parked at Cabela's and let the kids climb on the truck.) We did spend a good amount of time in Daddy's green truck pressing buttons, which is usually a no-no, but by weigh-in time, he was very well-behaved and happy. For the weigh-in, fishermen lined up with their boats, we had volunteers sign them in, get the fish out of the live wells, carry them up the stage, then weigh them and record them. This was actually pretty fun! The crowd stood around and Lyle Johnson was the emcee....people really got into it. After all the fish were weighed, Amy and Jenny ran inside to tally the results. In the meantime, we gave out door prizes....and thanks to Sarah and several other amazing volunteers, we had some GREAT door prizes! The fishermen loved them, and over 40 prizes went out. After this, a professional fisherman came up to talk a little about his job and how it feels to fish against famous guys. Then Chris, Tucker, and I went on the stage to give our thank yous and our speech. Here it is: "Hi, we are Leigh & Chris Townsend, and this is our son Tucker Ray. Thank you all for coming out to support us today, we are overwhelmed by the amount of love and support that has come to our family in the last few months. On May 26, 2006, Tucker was born 13 weeks early, weighing only 1 pound, 11 ounces. He had a host of medical issues, and spent 8 1/2 months in the NICU. He came home with a ventilator and trach, and also has a g-button because he could not eat by mouth. While Tucker has outgrown many of his medical issues, new ones have come up and he continues to take many medicines and see quite a few doctors. In July of 2010, we discovered that many of his medical problems were not due to prematurity, but another disorder: mitochondrial disease. Tucker's cells can't produce enough energy to perform vital functions, such as regulating his blood sugar, giving his muscles tone and strength, and helping his brain learn like other children. Tucker has a depletion syndrome, meaning that his condition will get worse, we just don't know how or when. By donating to our family, you all have ensured that Tucker will get the care he needs and the best chance to live a normal life. Tucker has taught us all so much. He lives for the moment, doesn't take no for an answer, and loves to get messy. He has gone through more in his life than most people ever will, yet he has a joy for life that is amazing to see. He has faced many obstacles, and has more ahead; thank you all for coming out today and reminding us how many people love our son, and that we are not alone. Thank you" We gave Amy & Eddie and Ryan & Jenny a small gift (Tucker's handprint turned into a fish, it was pretty cute, I think!). Then they announced the winner, but by then Tucker and I had headed inside! We rode the escalator and elevator 5 times, then we went back out and into Chris's truck with little screaming, and no tears. Yay!