OOD cares (kind of a sappy post)

[fishy steve]

first part of my post is gonna be fairly sad so feal free to skip past the first paragraph lol

well bin a rough year in these parts from illness... started with 2 well respected neighbours an outdoorsmen losing their battles with cancer. my aunt was also recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and is currently battling it. just learned today that a hunting buddie of mine has had his cancer return, had already beat it once, but it has come back in another location, and the outlook does not look good for him... 35 years old, 3 kids with the oldest being 12. lost a buddy to suicide and a coworkers daughter also...

well the point of this is to let you all know, and im sure i speak on behalf of most on here, no matter what you are going through please know we are all here for you. I know some of you have posted your health issues, and would like everyone to know feal free to ask for help, dosent matter if its moral support, or if you need some help physically, like say around the house, or if you just need to get out into the bush, we are hear for you! we may have a squables, but the OOD community cares

[TurkeyRookie]

Top notch post. Sometimes it's just nice to verbalized your feelings to a group of strangers you don't have to face. Just to be able to say what you're feeling out loud and get it off your chest. Especially with s group this large, good chances you'll find someone that has gone through what you are. Or is. And an encouraging pm is sent. Everyone on here has their differences but at the end of the day. We're all outdoorsman and woman. And that piece of fabric in Us is cut from the same cloth.

[fratri]

Here's hoping for the best possible outcome for all our friends and loved ones going through the same kind of thing.... Good post

[fishy steve]

Top notch post. Sometimes it's just nice to verbalized your feelings to a group of strangers you don't have to face. Just to be able to say what you're feeling out loud and get it off your chest. Especially with s group this large, good chances you'll find someone that has gone through what you are. Or is. And an encouraging pm is sent. Everyone on here has their differences but at the end of the day. We're all outdoorsman and woman. And that piece of fabric in Us is cut from the same cloth.

and never under estimate the power of the words "lets go hunting/fishing, my treat" can mean the world to someone going through a tough time... i had posted this back in hunting season, but this year i was able to take my 75 year old neighbour (had a stroke couple years ago, hasnt complety recovered) out for a deer hunt for a couple hours... set him on a nice funnel point, where i drove my atv right to for him, then circled up and did a push towards him, jumped a small buck and a doe and they ran towards him... unforntuatly he did not see them running past him, but he was gratefull just to get some time in the field. had he managed to get that buck i wouldve considered that the ultimate trophy... he buys a truck load of logs every year, and 4 or 5 of us get together and cut them up for him... its the little things that can help

[oilman]

I no what its like I lost 2 uncles within 6 months of each other its a tough world we live in !!!!!!!

[fishy steve]

I no what its like I lost 2 uncles within 6 months of each other its a tough world we live in !!!!!!!

yes i hear you, when it rains it pours... be 10 years this september i lost my dad... lost my grandma 1 month later... was also the year i shot my first moose, a young bull, which turned out to be very hard, cause i couldnt share the story with the one person i wanted to.

my dad died on sept 1, and bear season opens on sept 1st in my area, so have always considered it to be hunting with my dad, and 2 of the last 3 years have taken my bear on that day

[BIG MAC]

fishy steve I lost my father 41 years ago and not a week goes by ( yes 41 years later ) that something doesn't remind of him, sometimes find myself holding my hand curved the way he did, and even though I was only 21 at the time a lot of what he taught us I still use today, so don't worry you never forget them....

[Hunter John]

Great post Steve , a good reminder not to take the important things for granted.

[Fishy Wishy]

When I was 23 I lost my father who was 46. The things that went through my mind. Was I at my halfway point?

My Dad and I had a sometimes strained relationship during my late teens which started to resolve when I moved away for college.

The last thing I said to Dad was on the phone "Is Mom home?" Although it was to discuss a Christmas gift for him I was picking up for her, this short 3 words rings in my head. Dad passed in early December of a fatal heart attack. The Christmas gift from me was wrapped and ready to pack for our trip home...It took 8 years before I unwrapped that gift and used it for myself.

When Dad died my wife was 3 month's pregnant for our first, We had just told our parent's a few weeks earlier and told them to keep it secret until Christmas or at least after the 3 month checkup. Dad didn't. At his funeral we came to learn everyone in the family knew. Dad was so happy and proud...It was sad he never met his Granddaughter.

3 months before him my other major male role model had passed, that was my Mother's Dad.

I recently told AbitibiRay that his adventures, with his kids in tow, remind me of my father when I was his kids' age. I don't know if he realizes that is a huge complement from me.

A few months ago my oldest (11 year old) daughter's best friend was diagnosed with CML, a chronic form of Leukemia normally only diagnosed in people with a median age of 67. She is the 2nd youngest case of CML that McMaster has seen. This has taken a toll on our whole family. Kiara's mom was our daycare provider since my oldest was 10 month's old, Kiara and my daughter are only 2 weeks different in age and have grown up as close or even closer than most kids do with their cousins. Kiara's mom and dad are truly like and aunt and uncle to my children.

This news has had major effects in our family. We had to explain things to both of our daughters, my wife (and my daughter) is a conduit to the school as Kiara has been unable to attend due to her treatments, and the havoc they play on the immune system. We are taking part in fund raising events and have been promoting Kiara's GoFundMe campaign to help cover the medications that neither OHIP nor insurance cover.

[TurkeyRookie]

When I was 23 I lost my father who was 46. The things that went through my mind. Was I at my halfway point?

My Dad and I had a sometimes strained relationship during my late teens which started to resolve when I moved away for college.

The last thing I said to Dad was on the phone "Is Mom home?" Although it was to discuss a Christmas gift for him I was picking up for her, this short 3 words rings in my head. Dad passed in early December of a fatal heart attack. The Christmas gift from me was wrapped and ready to pack for our trip home...It took 8 years before I unwrapped that gift and used it for myself.

When Dad died my wife was 3 month's pregnant for our first, We had just told our parent's a few weeks earlier and told them to keep it secret until Christmas or at least after the 3 month checkup. Dad didn't. At his funeral we came to learn everyone in the family knew. Dad was so happy and proud...It was sad he never met his Granddaughter.

3 months before him my other major male role model had passed, that was my Mother's Dad.

I recently told AbitibiRay that his adventures, with his kids in tow, remind me of my father when I was his kids' age. I don't know if he realizes that is a huge complement from me.

A few months ago my oldest (11 year old) daughter's best friend was diagnosed with CML, a chronic form of Leukemia normally only diagnosed in people with a median age of 67. She is the 2nd youngest case of CML that McMaster has seen. This has taken a toll on our whole family. Kiara's mom was our daycare provider since my oldest was 10 month's old, Kiara and my daughter are only 2 weeks different in age and have grown up as close or even closer than most kids do with their cousins. Kiara's mom and dad are truly like and aunt and uncle to my children.

This news has had major effects in our family. We had to explain things to both of our daughters, my wife (and my daughter) is a conduit to the school as Kiara has been unable to attend due to her treatments, and the havoc they play on the immune system. We are taking part in fund raising events and have been promoting Kiara's GoFundMe campaign to help cover the medications that neither OHIP nor insurance cover.

Very touching story FW, sorry for your losses, but it seems you have some fond memories to carry on.

My parents (well dad, mom is 6 years older than him) had my brother and I at a very young age. I am 32 now, dad is 52, while I know they struggled for a long time they pulled through it, and dad is still working for the same company he did as a kid, that's besides the main point. While they were young and struggling, I am really glad that the "whoops" happened, and that dad and I are only 20 years apart.

While we had our ups and down like everyone, maybe even more so, because we are personality twins, we are stronger than most. Dad is dad, but when we're together, dad is a best friend, we did everything together growing up, because he was young and able, and still is.

Of course anything can happen, at any point in time, and we live over 800KM/h away, I enjoy every second with my best friend, my dad and hope we'll be chasing game and laughing our fools heads off at eachother for years to come.

On the other hand, I didn't have much of a "family" growing up. My moms side, well, their bat poo crazy, and we didn't really associate with them, dad is estranged from his mom and only brother, so I never had cousins, uncles, aunts, etc.

I think that's part of the reason I am how I am with people, I make a split second decision, about you, and there is really no changing it. I either like you, or I don't. I can warm up to people instantly and others I can't and I dissacotiate from them.

Dad has his core of buddies, and hunting buddies, and most of them I have been following around the bush with dad, or by myself with them since I was able to walk, cutting firewood, working on cars, hunting, etc. Those guys are my uncles, the guys I look up to, when it comes time to be their times, those will be tough days.