Huntsville teen with CMT in South Alabama Buckmasters Life Hunt

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Huntsville teen in South Alabama Buckmasters Life Hunt

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When doctors told Blair at age 30 that he had been diagnosed

with a rare form of muscular dystrophy, the reaction probably wasn't

one they expected.

" Dang, " Blair said. " So that's why I've always been so bad at

sports. "

Blair told that story last week at the 19th annual Buckmasters Life

Hunt at Sedgefield Plantation in Dallas County. It drew hearty laughs

from a group that needed hearty laughs.

The 10 hunters from across the U.S. were there to participate in the

Montgomery-based Buckmasters annual Life Hunt, a hunt for individuals

who have life-threatening or life-altering disabilities. The filmed-

for-television event is annually the top-rated show in the

Buckmasters TV series.

Blair was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, a rare form of

muscular dystrophy that causes damage to the peripheral nerves that

carry signals from the brain and spinal cord to muscles.

Blair was told that the disease will eventually weaken and waste away

the muscles in his extremities, but that wasn't the worst of it. He

was told that the disease is hereditary and that his children should

be tested.

The Huntsville resident wasn't there to hunt last week but rather to

escort his 14-year-old son, Skylar, who at age 5 was also diagnosed

with the disease. A go-getter who has wowed many at Camp ASCA, Skylar

was nominated and chosen for the hunt after being pushed by Camp ASCA

officials and the Alabama Conservation Officers Association.

His sponsors wanted him to participate in the hunt before his disease

eventually makes it impossible.

The freshman at Huntsville High School wowed them again last week as

he took an 8-point buck on Tuesday and followed that with an 11-point

buck on Wednesday.

" It hasn't gotten to the point that it really affects anything I want

to do yet, " the avid hunter said.

One person who was pleased with the hunting success of the youngster

and other disabled hunters was Sullivan, the director of

Buckmasters Disabled Services. The nonprofit wing of Buckmasters

promotes getting disabled people back into the outdoors and back into

a previous lifestyle they might have thought was impossible.

Sullivan helps conduct 30 to 40 BDS hunts across the U.S. each year

and 14 Life Hunts that draw the more seriously ill. Sullivan, who

lost a leg in a motorcycle accident, says the whole program is about

hope.

" When someone suffers a severe disability or is diagnosed with a

serious disease, their first thought is that their life is over, "

Sullivan said. " We like to show them that it is not. "

Sullivan has had some remarkable pupils whom modern technology has

helped immensely. He has had one-armed hunters who have learned to

draw bows with a special release located in their teeth. He has had

quadriplegics who use mouth-operated aiming devices to take deer with

rifles.

He has even had a blind pupil take deer and antelope with a bow.

" I think the best thing that we do is that when someone calls with a

disability we know someone that has the same disability who can help

them, " he said. " Someone who doesn't have a disability telling them

that they can do it is one thing. Someone with that same disability

telling them is something else. " Check out Bolton's blog at

blog.al.com/outdoors-alabama. Write him at mbolton@...