(upbeat music)
(child laughing)
Keep reeling, keep reeling.
Yay! (upbeat music)
Right now, we're at one of the Fishing is Relief events.
It's a, one of the parts of Angling for Relief that we do.
(upbeat music)
All these kids are out here catching fish.
I think we've caught probably the most here
than we have at any other one.
Fishing is Relief is our event,
and we invite pediatric cancer patients,
survivors, and their families to come out with us,
spend a day fishing so they can find some fishing relief.
Jake and his family, Angling for Relief,
they put together these trips where these kids can come out.
I mean, if you look around and see the kids
are just having fun doing normal kid things,
getting their minds off the normal medical stuff
that they have to think about.
The kids that come to it,
they get to learn how to fish,
and when they learn how to fish,
they can go out and fish
with someone else like their family.
It's really good bonding when you're just fishing,
and that's all you're thinking about fishing,
not your diagnosis or anything.
(upbeat music)
Nice job Declan, that's a huge one.
Angling for Relief started last May.
Jake, my then 12-year old son,
had experience with a friend of his
who had passed away from Ewing sarcoma,
and Jake's passion is fishing.
You wanna learn how to tie the knot,
or do you just want me to tie it on?
I'll let the expert do it. (laughs)
Alright.
He would say to me mom,
Ryan didn't even get to go fishing.
You know, he was going through
such a horrible battle with cancer,
and he didn't even get to go fishing
and enjoy the last couple years of his life,
and I said well Jake, you know what,
let's do something about it 'cause he would also talk about
well there are other kids mom
that are going through this as well.
And I was like, that's so much work,
but we did end up doing it actually,
and well look where it is now.
Just so many video games you can play
and so many Legos you can build,
but one thing that you can do over and over again,
at least for me, is you can cast a rod.
The very first thing he came up with was mom,
we need to go to all the cancer hospitals
and build ponds...
And stock it with fish.
I'm like, that's a great idea.
Let's start a little smaller. (laughs)
(upbeat music)
These kids and parents have been through a lot
and are going through a lot with treatments,
and it's wonderful to be able to provide
an opportunity for them to come out here,
just enjoy nature and the thrill of catching fish.
Thank you; are you gonna help Chris?
Trinity was diagnosed in July of 2018 at two years old
with neural blastoma.
It's a very aggressive form of cancer
that normally starts in the nervous system.
Her tumor is located in her neck,
so it's currently inoperable.
It just devastates your entire family.
It devastates the siblings.
These kids have to think about hospital beds
and medicines and their counts are okay
for them to go outside and play.
This is one of those opportunities
where they can forget about all of that.
(upbeat music)
It is one of the awesome resources
that, as a cancer family, we have,
so we were able to bring Trinity who's three out here
along with her big sister Sierra who's five
and little sister Anastasia who's one,
and they just get to fish and have fun.
Good job, Finn!
Sorry, he caught a fish. (laughs)
We were here for all of five minutes,
and she already caught her first fish.
A lizardfish, that's awesome!
They can just be kids,
and they know that nobody's going to be staring at them,
asking questions because everybody here understands
what they're going through.
We've got a long road ahead
just like a lot of other families,
so these events are everything,
like they're laughing and having a great time,
which is great to see.
Fishing is cathartic.
It's almost like therapy in itself.
The families are able to come here,
just show up and enjoy.
We provide all of the fishing poles,
the lunch, all the tackle,
the knowledge from our volunteers who are anglers.
Being able to just come and enjoy themselves
and not have to think about anything.
So as a parent,
I'm so thankful, and I don't wanna get too emotional,
but I'm just so thankful that it provides an opportunity
for my kids to get excited about catching a fish.
Keep reeling, keep reeling!
I can't say enough great things about Jake,
enough great things about Angling for Relief,
and he's very humble.
He doesn't want the attention on himself.
He wants the attention for the children.
He wants to make sure kids are having a good time
and getting relief from the everyday.
Jake's out here on a beautiful Saturday morning
giving his time back to these kids to give a good time.
You can take this one.
He truly has a big heart, a passion for fishing,
and empathy for others.
He's awesome, he's awesome.
Like for such a young kid to have this,
I refer to it as a heart off gold.
If you think about what our kids are doing
in this day and age,
for a 13, 14-year-old to want to come out
and volunteer his precious time on a Saturday
to give back to these kids,
it's really, it's inspiring.
I hope my kids have the opportunity to grow up
to be like Jake and his family.
I feel really good when I do it,
and it makes me feel a lot better about myself.
We hear so many oh the kid is just unbelievable.
He's awesome, and he is no doubt,
but he's just like any other kid,
and he just came up with an idea,
and he has a gazillion volunteers.
People who have stood behind him and said
you go, we'll follow, and we'll do whatever it is
you come up with.
(upbeat music)