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The 7^th Annual “Fishing For a Cure” Buddy Bass Tournament, held May 7^th in Rich Hill, Missouri, raised over $1,000 in the fight against cystic fibrosis, a deadly genetic disease. The weather couldn’t have been better and 24 teams were entered in this year’s competition. The charity tournament is an annual event to benefit Team Gracie and all proceeds are donated directly to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Teams of two checked in three fish each and prizes were awarded for total weight and biggest bass overall. Taking first place, Rusty Thomas and Ben Buesing won the overall trophy with a total weight of 15 lbs, 13 oz for three large mouth bass. They won $100, which they donated back to Team Gracie, trophies, t-shirts, and Kansas Speedway tickets for the Nationwide race in October. Ben also checked in the largest bass of the tournament, weighing in at 5 lbs, 12 oz. Ben took home the “biggest bass cash pot”, which totaled $100. Travis Brooks and Aryan Cumpton came in second place for overall team with a total catch of 14 lbs, 6 oz. They won t-shirts and Kansas Speedway tickets for the Truck Series race in June. Nathan Kassner and Lance Breckenridge took tackle boxes when they came in third with a total of 13 lbs, 9 oz.

With generous sponsor donations, everyone who competed received door prizes including hats and fishing gear. At check-in, everyone enjoyed a smoked pulled pork and briskit meal, courtesy of Terry & Dixie Hoeper. Sponsors included Natalea Hoeper, Nick Marchiano, International Used Truck Center of Kansas City and Detroit Diesel of Kansas city. Clint McKinley donated the traveling trophies.

Pictures of the event can be found here.

Filed under: Events, News on May 10th, 2011 | No Comments »

May 7th is the 7th annual Buddy Bass tourney to raise money in the fight against cystic fibrosis. Click below for more details. Hope to see you there.

2011 Buddy Bass Flier

Filed under: News on April 5th, 2011 | No Comments »

The 6^th Annual “Fishing For a Cure” Buddy Bass Tournament, held April 24^th in Rich Hill, Missouri, raised over $1,000 in the fight against cystic fibrosis, a deadly genetic disease. Despite a steady rain through much of the morning, 15 teams were entered in this years competition. The charity tournament is an annual event to benefit Team Gracie and all proceeds are donated directly to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Teams of two checked in three fish each and prizes were awarded for total weight and biggest bass overall. Taking first place, Nathan Kassner and Lance Breckenridge won the overall trophy with a total weight of 14 lbs, 5 oz for three large mouth bass. They won $100, which they donated back to Team Gracie, trophies, t-shirts, tackle boxes and Craftsman Truck Series tickets to Kansas Speedway. Leon Gire of Lamar checked in the largest bass of the tournament, weighing in at 6 lbs. Leon took home a tackle box, t-shirt and the “biggest bass cash pot”, which he also donated back to Team Gracie. Leon, with his teammate Kenny Bolkman, also came in second place for overall team with a total catch of 13 lbs, 13 oz. They won hats, t-shirts and IRL tickets to Kansas Speedway. Nick Marchiano and Josh Cooke took home hats and other prizes when they came in third with a total of 12 lbs, 11 oz. With generous sponsor donations, everyone who competed received door prizes. At check-in, everyone enjoyed a smoked pulled pork and briscuit meal, courtesy of Terry & Dixie Hoeper.

Sponsors included: Apex Tile, Insurtec Salon Insurance and Cabela’s.

Click here for more Buddy Bass Tourney Pictures

1st Place Winners: Nathan Kassner, Grace Beshore, Lance Breckenridge

Leon Gire and the Biggest Bass

2nd Place Winners: Leon Gire, Grace Beshore, Kenny Bolkman

3rd Place Winners: Josh Cooke, Grace Beshore, Nick Marchiano

Filed under: News on April 26th, 2010 | No Comments »

April 24th is the 6th annual Buddy Bass tourney to raise money in the fight against cystic fibrosis. Click below for more details. Hope to see you there.

Buddy Bass Tourney

Filed under: News on March 9th, 2010 | No Comments »

Grace turned 7 this month. She has been wanting a Star Wars birthday party all year and her wish was granted, complete with a kidnapping by Darth Vader. Click below for some great pics and the kidnapping video.

Birthday Pictures

Darth Vader Kidnaps Grace

Filed under: Photos, Video on October 5th, 2009 | No Comments »

Grace has her first soccer game today. She played last year and really liked it.

Some video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id-cLN20sD0

Filed under: Photos on September 12th, 2009 | No Comments »

I ran across this article today and thought it really showed how far CF treatment has come in recent years. It’s a lengthy interview with longtime CF researcher, Bonnie Ramsey. It’s an amazing article about how drugs to treat the underlying cause of CF are in phase II and III clinical trials and what that means for people with CF. If you know anyone with CF, this is as exciting as it gets. Dr. Black at the CF clinic in Kansas City is very excited about this and also feels this is a watershed moment for CF treatment.

When you read the article, keep in mind that Grace has two different CF genes. She has the most common gene, Delta F508. But, more importantly, she also has the very rare gene G551D, only found in 4% of patients. The article explains it better than I could:

“Then there’s the type 3, the G551D, which is what the Vertex product [VX-770] is working on. That’s where the protein gets to the surface, but it’s not properly activated. So it gets up there to the surface of the cell, but it can’t properly transport the salt.”

“But this [Vertex's VX-770] is actually trying to correct the protein. So if it works, we have shown this concept works. You actually can change a dysfunctional protein into a functional channel. Whether it turns out that Vertex is 100 percent successful or not, this is such a giant step forward, it’s like a man walking on the moon.”

Very powerful stuff. Since VX-770 is in Phase III and the trials have progressed well, this opens up the possibility that Grace will be able to take a pill that could essentially change the dysfunctional protein into a functional one. Simply put, if that works, she could take a pill and not have any CF symptoms.

Link to interview

Link to article about VX-770

Filed under: Cystic Fibrosis, News on August 7th, 2009 | No Comments »

Grace had a three month checkup at the CF clinic yesterday and continues to pass with flying colors. She is up to 47 inches tall and around 44 pounds. This puts her close to the 5oth percentile in both weight and height. She has been doing great this summer. She also blew a personal best in the PFT machine, which measures lung function, despite having a bit of a cough. She has been very active this summer, swimming a lot and is really enjoying herself. She’s going to be a first grader and turn 7 in September.

Filed under: Cystic Fibrosis, News on July 31st, 2009 | No Comments »

Yet again our team came through and raised over $5,000 for Great Strides. The walk was great, tons of people showed up, and although a bit muddy, the weather was great. Thanks to all who participated and donated. Click here for a couple more pics.

Walking along Brush Creek

Filed under: Events, Great Strides on May 7th, 2009 | No Comments »

http://www.nevadadailymail.com/story/1530549.html

Filed under: Events, News on April 15th, 2009 | 1 Comment »