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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
What's really important ...
Chad Ryan, Photographer
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Fort Wayne | IN | USA | Posted: 11:38 AM on 06.27.11 |
->> I got home yesterday after spending a couple days off the grid, camping with my family. As soon as I walked in I was greeted with the terrible news about Austin Hatch as it was the lead story on both newspapers here in Fort Wayne. I started reading and my first thought was somebody screwed up big time because I was sure I was reading an old story.
Then it became clear to me that Austin had just survived ANOTHER plane crash. It was his second in eight years, both piloted by his father Dr. Stephen Hatch, and between both of them he lost his entire immediate family. I met Austin and photographed him a couple of times earlier this year. I wrote a short question-and-answer piece about him to go with an impromptu portrait session we threw together on an outdoor basketball court in January. Although I did not know Austin well, when I read about his ordeal this weekend a great sadness came over me. I could not imagine how he dealt with losing his mother, little sister and little brother in the first crash at age 8. This time he's lost his father and stepmother and is in a medically-induced coma fighting for his own life.
The last time I spoke to Austin was at an AAU tournament in May. He saw me and came over to talk. So we chatted briefly about everything he had planned for the summer and how getting a scholarship offer from Michigan was his hope, despite interest from several big D1 programs. His dad and his mother both went to U of M, and Austin adamantly proclaimed he would go to medical school there, whether he played basketball or not, and follow in his dad's footsteps by becoming a doctor. When he told me that, I didn't even question if he could do it. Austin got that offer last week, and he accepted, probably in less time than it took me to type this sentence.
Austin is a great kid and very smart. I'm pulling for him to make it through this as is anyone who's ever known him. Needless to say, I hugged my own boys a little harder last night. You just never know when you won't be there for them. |
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Michael Fischer, Photographer
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Spencer | Ia | USA | Posted: 12:25 PM on 06.27.11 |
->> Chad, you're wise beyond your years and consider this Austin's gift to you.
You can't say "I love you" to your spouse and children too much. I say it all the time.
None of us are guaranteed the gift of a new day. What a different world this would be if everyone recognized that fact. |
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