Make-A-Wish Teen Cancer Survivor Lands 759 Pound Marlin


A Make-A-Wish teen helped battle and land a 759-pound marlin 15 miles off Kewalo Basin in Honolulu, Hawaii. No, really. Sounds like a real fish story, doesn’t it?

Sterling Ellis, a 19-year-old from Houston, TX, was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma when he was just 17. Often popularly called Hodgkin’s disease, it’s a cancer of the lymph nodes that act to filter waste and other foreign particles out of the cells.

Hodgkins lymphoma most commonly affects young people, especially young men, between the ages of 15 and 35. Adults over 50 are also have a higher risk. Once deadly, new advances in treatment mean that most patients will become long-term cancer survivors.

Ellis will undergo a bone marrow transplant in May, after he turns 20.

However, before the grueling surgery, he was treated to a six-day fishing trip courtesy of the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s Texas Gulf Coast Louisiana chapter.

Little did he dream that he and the crew of The Wild Bunch would battle to reel in a 759-pound marlin that most healthy adults will never dream of catching.

Describing the battle, Ellis told a Honolulu TV station that his arm hurt and even locked up during the hour-long battle, but that’s no surprise when you consider the size of the thing. Ultimately, it took Ellis, his buddy, the captain, and all the deckhands on board — to land the 11-foot long marlin.

Most of the fish will be sold to help pay fuel costs, but Ellis is keeping the three foot long “bill” as a souvenir of his amazing victory.

Captain Karl Adams admitted that the crew was stunned: “We just call it a blind strike. Just out of nowhere. We thought it was a tuna first. We really did.”

Are you as impressed as I am by the Make-A-Wish teen’s amazing 759-pound marlin catch?

[a mere 140 pound blue marlin photo by Kate Crandell via Wikipedia Commons]

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