Been a hectic week for me, most of it spent at MD Anderson in Houston getting "injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected and selected", at the end of it all my cancer hasn't spread & I graduated to getting scans every 6 months (vs every 3)...

so to celebrate I took the morning off & went fishing...
but I kept thinking about a friend of mine...

I saw Keith at the Cancer Hospital and he has cancer that has spread tumors around a bit in his body, he's a young man probably half my age (I'm 51) and you will travel long & far before you meet anyone braver or more courageous, I meet Keith at Reel Recovery retreat this spring & we descended upon the Possum Kingdom tail-water's just in time for the golden algae bloom that rendered the place fishless...but that didnt bother my buddy Keith, in fact while the rest of us were shivering in our waders he was wearing shorts & tennis shoes & I have no doubt if there was a living fish in the river that day he would have caught it (or at least scared the $hit out of it), the next day during the torrential downpour we all stayed in and tied flies, but not Keith, he came to fish & he went fishing on that cold wet spring day. Like I said his cancer has spread & he is going thru radiation and then some chemo the next few days & weeks...so if I you would keep a good thought for Keith in your mind it would sure be nice.


Okay now quick trip report - wadda day !!! it was like spring out there, comfortable as could be, the water was still warm 88 degrees on Lone Star Lake but the cloud cover had fish in shallow & hitting on top. Couple weeks ago my camera bit the big one so when I got a new one it is waterproof & I played around with that feature the most.

Sweetness. We'll keep Keith in our hearts and minds and pray that he's out there again soon.

Very cool, Mike!

Thanks for sharing!

Nice fishing. Congrats on moving up to 6 month screens. Will keep Kieth in my prayers.

Great news Mike ..... CONGRATULATIONS !!!!
I'll see my oncologist @ 2:30 for 3 month exam - then shoot for 6 month!!!

I had the honor and privilege of being "Fishing Buddy" for both Mike and Keith at the RR Retreat. They are both very brave and courageous men in my opinion. Keith is only 27ish and is going through some very difficult times with his cancer. He is about as cool a young man as I have ever met. He refuses to give up and let his cancer win. That is what RR is all about; helping men to regain the "want to" to beat their cancer. It's done through "courageous conversations" and quality time in the outdoors fly fishing.

I ask each and every one of you to continue to lift up Mike, Keith, and George (as well as many, many others who are battling the awful effect of cancer.

Great news Mike!

RevTCF talked about a courageous young man at that retreat. This is obviously him. My prayers go out for him.

As for the photos, you seriously ought to put together a coffee table book. Perhaps could sell copies to benefit Re Recovery? The pix are that good in my opinion.

yep, Jerry is super buddy, while all the other guys had only one screwy cancer guy to contend with Jerry snatched up two. Figuratively we are all brothers & 12 or 15 or 24 of us can fight cancer better than 1.

Hot damn for you, Mike! When I grow up I want to be as mentally strong as you are and catch as many bass on the fly as you do.

Good luck on your checkup, George.

Amen!!

Mike good news on the nasty stuff, nice report(dig the under water shots), and hang in there Keith.

Mike, I hope you've talked Keith into at least lurking 'round these virtual parts so he can bask in our cumulative goodwill. He sounds like he'd fit in here really well.

Give it hell, Keith!

Reel Recovery Day at Chimy's was yesterday in Fort Worth.
Chimy's donated 20% of yesterdays business to Reel Recovery.

Here are a couple of the brave men (Keith is on the far right) that have been participants and a couple of hard working RR volunteers enjoying dinner @ Chimy's last night.



I want to send out a special "THANKS" to Chimy's for their support of Reel Recovery. They are also the folks that have offered the use of their restaurant for the RR Fundraising Dinner/Live Auction.

I got a message this morning as the fall Reel Recovery retreat is happening now, our buddy Keith has passed on, no more suffering, he was 28 and leaves a wife & 7 yr old son. I wish his family some comfort in the coming days.

Sorry to hear that. He was certainly living large in the posted photo � chomping a cigar and casting in the rain.

Here's to appreciating our moments.