John Braschayko's Outdoor Wish Hunt

The picture is of 13 year old John Braschayko who is Benefit4Kids most recent “Outdoor Wish Kid”. Benefit4Kids teamed up with Brigid O’Donoghue of Bio-Tec research and Bill Roller of Little Flat Creek Ranch to send John on his wish hunt. Some of you may remember John from my post “He Made Me Cry” a month or so ago.

April and I met John and his Mom at an outdoor show in early September. When April asked John what kind of hunt he would like to go on he sheepishly replied “I’d like to get a big buck”, that got the ball rolling. John suffers from Epilepsy and had to have part of his brain removed to help control his seizures. The surgery left John with several physical problems including paralysis of his right side. He fought like crazy to regain movement in his right side and just recently became strong enough to shoot a gun.

When I spoke to Brigid about John I found out that she had gone through a very similar experience when she was younger. Brigid contacted Bill Roller and told him John’s story. Bill graciously donated a hunt for John at his 1700-acre ranch. John’s Mom, Dad and Brigid were also invited along to share in John’s Outdoor Wish. John’s hunt was scheduled for the 15th of November so his Mom and Dad decided to make a trip of it and left early so they could enjoy the trip from Michigan to Southern Missouri and visit some sights along the way.

When they arrived at Bill’s ranch not only did he take John under his wing but he also took him fishing on a few streams at the ranch and fixed dinner for the whole family. They then headed for the range to check John’s gun and John’s first shot was only 1 ½” off of the bull’s-eye. Once out in the blind it didn’t take long before a good 10 point buck came out to the food plot and John excitedly got ready to make his shot. Although he still struggles with the weakness in his right arm and hand he steadied his rifle and made a nice one shot kill on a great buck.

As I’ve mentioned before it takes a lot of people to make this kind of Outdoor Wish come true and those of you who support Benefit4Kids through donations or purchases of Ultimate Sportsmen Raffle tickets are as much a part of making John’s wish come true as anyone. I’d like to personally thank Brigid for the hard work she does to help so many kids and also Bill Roller for donating this hunt to John. They helped to make a young man’s dream come true and quite possibly have changed his life forever.

Here’s just a few excerpts from an e-mail John’s Mom sent me and one from his sister Karen that I’d like to share with all of you.

“Our trip was an absolute dream come true!”

“The whole thing was so incredible. John has memories to last a lifetime.”

From Karen “He is so touched that people like you would do so much for him; I remember the day he came home and told me about it.”

“This has made a huge difference in John's life.”

My Thanks to all of you, God Bless

Steve Pray
President, Benefit4Kids

B4K Notes: John's hunt was donated by Bill Roller of Little Flat Creek Ranch
John's lodging and travel expenses were covered by Benefit4Kids
John's deer mount was donated by St. Clair Flats Taxidermy