Tuesday, June 16, 2009

An old friend battles ALS

This past Saturday I went to a trap shoot at Jefferson Gun Club in Brooks, KY. This was not an ordinary shoot, but was the One Shot Doc trap shoot put on by the National Wild Turkey Federation Bernheim Chapter. The event is to reward the people involved in the chapter’s Wheelin’ Sportsmen program which gets disabled hunters back into the woods.

While there I met some fine folks and also touched base with an old friend.

Mitch Ensor and I went to high school together, where we used to talk about hunting and fishing. As adults, we were members of Chickasaw Archery Club in Shepherdsville and used to shoot together on occasion. Mitch is one of those guys that everyone likes. Always has been. He has a wife and two young children and something else; Mitch has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

There is no cure for ALS. He will eventually die from this disease and the world will have lost a great soul. In addition to support from family and friends Mitch has his faith and not the kind of faith you sometimes see. He lives for the Lord 24 hours a day, seven days a week and has for as long as I can remember.

Mitch was an active outdoorsman even after this terrible disease hit him. He even got his Osceola Turkey in Florida from a wheel chair, with the help of David Blanton and Realtree Outdoors. This was his last bird to complete the American grand slam of turkeys.

Only God knows what the future holds for Mitch and his family, but if you want to find out more about ALS and perhaps make a donation to support research you can go to: http://www.alsa.org/.

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