To enter visit www.fishingfortucker.com

When: February 4, 2012
Where: Cabela's in Gonzales, LA

Tournament Waters include any PUBLIC Louisiana Waterway

Start Time: 6:30am
Check In Time: 3:00pm

Registration Locations:
Cabela's in Gonzales
Pierre Part Store in Pierre Part
Cracker Barrel on False River Road
Laplace Travel Center, I-10/Hwy 51

Pre-Tournament Briefing: February 2, 2012
5:30pm-8:30pm
Cabela's in Gonzales

Tuckers Story

Tucker Townsend, son of Christopher and Leigh Townsend, is a 5-year-old boy with Mitochondrial Disorder. He was born at 27 weeks gestation, weighing just 1 pound and 11 ounces. Tucker spent over 8 months in the NICU at Woman's Hospital, and his parents took him home with a tracheotomy tube and ventilator. He had home nursing for 12 hours a day until he was 3 years old.

Tucker said good-bye to the ventilator at age 3 and 6 months later got his trach out. Tucker also has a feeding tube for nutrition as he eats less than 1% of his food by mouth. Tucker's development has soared since his trach came out, He has gone from saying only one or two words to now saying 3- and 4-word sentences.

This summer he attended a special needs preschool 5 days a week, and he participated in 3 speech therapy sessions per week, one swimming Physical Therapy session per week, one gymnastics Physical Therapy session per week, and two Occupational Therapy sessions per week to help with feeding. Tucker has many health problems that cannot be explained by his prematurity, such as developmental delay, autistic characteristics, GI issues, and microcephaly (small head).

These issues led his parents to seek out mitochondrial testing, which led to a diagnosis of a Mitochondrial Depletion Syndrome in July 2010. This means that at a basic cellular level, Tucker's body does not work the way it is supposed to, and his cells do not have enough energy to perform many functions. Tucker's mito has manifested in his neurological symptoms, but there is a chance that it could affect his heart, liver, kidneys, or other systems in the future. Even though Tucker appears healthy and energetic to many, Mitochondrial Disorder is considered life-threatening and his prognosis is uncertain.

Tucker recently began full-day preschool at Lake Elementary in a special needs classroom, and so far he loves it. Tucker loves trucks and trains, as well as Mickey Mouse and playing outside, especially with his Daddy. Tucker loves life and brings joy to everyone he meets.

One of the most exciting things that happened directly because of the 2011 tournament is that we have been able to start Tucker in an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) program. Therapists come to our home to work with a proven program for kids with autism and other delays. Tucker is very frustrated because he cannot express himself, which leads to him grinding his teeth (which will have permanent damage if he continues) and also pulling his hair and needing anxiety medicine. The more that he can talk, the less that he displays these other behaviors and needs the interventions. The ABA program just started in June, and Tucker is already doing amazing. His behavior has improved dramatically, and he has started talking all the time! He can follow along with his favorite songs, like "Me and My Best Teddy Bear," and we recently discovered that he knows his ABCs. The ABA program is allowing us to "unlock" the Tucker that has been there all along, and I can never thank you all enough for that. He has a very long road ahead of him, but these early successes are showing us that this is the right track for Tucker to be on.