170-Inch Buck Taken By Young Man Facing Difficult Fight

Twelve-year-old Fisher Pritchett has seen his share of hard days in his battle with leukemia. However, Kourageous Outdoor Kids out of Dublin arranged a hunt for Fisher in Tift County, and the result was this nearly 170-inch buck.

Believers believe that God understands your every need. That is how some are explaining the much-needed jolt of positivity that 12-year-old Fisher Pritchett received last weekend in his battle with leukemia.

The short story is that the 6th grader took a massive 11-point buck that will score nearly 170 inches. He was on a hunting trip with Dublin-based Kourageous Outdoor Kids. That is a non-profit organization that provides children with disabilities and illnesses the chance to experience hunting and fishing. He was hunting on Moore family land in Tift County.

It is important to note it was a buck that hunters have hunted for years, but they have never been successful because the big buck never appeared in daylight hours.

Until last weekend.

That is the short story. The long story is that Fisher’s battle surely qualifies him as being courageous.

“In August of 2021, we went to the beach with all the family and the cousins,” Fisher’s father, Chris explained. “Fisher stumped his toe and was in excruciating pain. The pain didn’t go away. When we got back, my wife, Christina, took him to the doctor, and they ran some tests. They came back saying that he was severely anemic and had COVID-19. My stepsister works for the pediatrician. She called me and said that she didn’t want to tell me this, but Fisher may have cancer.”

The family said throughout the ordeal, they hung onto one particular Bible verse, Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

Chris’s stepsister was correct. Fisher had cancer. Fisher was admitted to Atrium Health Navicent Beverly Knight Olson Children’s Hospital in Macon on Aug. 16. He had blood transfusions. A follow-up test of bone marrow from Fisher’s hip revealed that the chemotherapy had not gotten it all. Fisher was transferred to Children’s Hospital in Atlanta and more chemotherapy was administered. There, his cancer was given a name—B-Cell High Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

“The first round of chemotherapy didn’t work. He was listed as high-risk,” Chris said. “There was a new treatment called Car-T Cell treatment. They pull your cells from your immune system and give them super strength and put them back in your body. They target the cancer cells and kill them off. They tried that twice, and it didn’t work. His cancer cells had morphed. It was a big letdown.”

Chemotherapy was begun again, and Fisher received a bone marrow transplant. Fisher returned to school in March of 2022. He enjoyed the summer with no hospital stays and very few doctor’s appointments. He welcomed a new baby sister in July. He returned to school in August and all appeared to be going well until the school called in September of 2022. The parents were informed that Fisher couldn’t walk.

“My wife picked him up and took him to the emergency room,” Chris said. “An MRI showed the leukemia was eating the bones from the inside out. It was eating through his head and ribs. It was depositing the calcium in his bladder.

“We’ve started a new drug that is carried in a satchel on his side and administered through a port on his chest. It is not as hard on the organs. That is where we are now.”

Christina says the waiting to see the results is “torture.”

This deer was no stranger on the Tift County land where Fisher was hunting, but it never appeared during daylight.

Despite his tribulations, Fisher never lost his love of the outdoors. On his first trip with Kourageous Outdoor Kids last year, he took his first deer, a button buck, as well as a doe and large wild hog.

He wanted better.

“We had been in the stand about an hour,” Fisher said about his hunt over on Saturday, Dec. 2. “The buck came out about 70 yards away. It seemed like forever before he turned broadside. He finally did and I shot him with a Ruger American 350 Legend. He ran about 40 yards. I was definitely very lucky. Everybody there had been hunting him for a few years.”

“The buck was rough-scored at 169 2/8 inches, Chris said.

Meanwhile, the family carries on with their faith sustaining them.

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