Decker granted wish to go crabbing

Holding his father’s hand, Decker Weill wove through the aisles in Cabela’s slowly, his head ducked as a herd of family members trailed after him, their voices hushed.

The crowd gathered around as Pete Marion, Cabela’s event coordinator, led Decker to the children’s life vests.

“Do you want a red one or a blue?” Marion asked with a smile.

Looking through his glasses with wide eyes, the 8-year-old pointed silently, and Marion slipped a small blue vest off the hangar and tugged it around the boy’s frail frame.

Although he didn’t speak, a shadow of a smile passed on the boy’s face.

Marion sat back to look the boy up and down.

“It think that’s going to be a really good fit for you,” he announced.

Decker’s mother, Crystal Perry, nodded and leaned in for a better look.

“It looks good, too!” she said.

The boy will put it to good use.

In two days, in fact, floating the waves off the Oregon coast.

The shopping trip at Cabela’s was all part of the dream the Sagle boy has been granted by Wishing Star this week: To go crab fishing in Oregon.

The nonprofit has taken care of all expenses for travel, hotels and site seeing on the 8-day trip, and on Wednesday, Wishing Star brought the boy and his family to his favorite outfitters store in Post Falls for a send-off party.

There, Decker picked out all-new gear for his trip, including a life vest, rain jacket, coat and boots, which will be covered by the nonprofit.

Decker also received two new fishing poles, a fully stocked tackle box, seat and radio for fishing trips when he gets back.

“So far, good and happy,” Decker said of how the day was treating him.

This is the first time that Decker, who was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma two years ago, has been healthy enough for such a trip, his mother said.

“His treatments have been pretty intense. Within the last two years, he’s been in the hospital a little less than a year,” Perry said, adding that Decker just finished his fifth of six rounds of chemotherapy last week. “We wanted to wait (to go on a trip) for his health to be good so he would enjoy it and not end up in the hospital if something happened.”

His brown hair thin from stem cell treatment, Decker is feeling full of energy these days, Perry said.

“He’s ready to go from the time he gets up to when he goes to bed,” she said.

Before the family was treated to pizza in the Cabela’s conference room, Decker pored over his new tackle box and explained the hooks and bobbers to his grandmother.

He wants to go crabbing after watching “Deadliest Catch,” a Discovery show about Alaskan crabbing fishermen, Decker said.

“I was wondering what it would be like,” he said.

He isn’t afraid at all, he added.

“As long as it’s a steel boat and it doesn’t sink and it’s bigger than a shark,” Decker said.

A budding outdoorsman, the boy fishes often with his father, Troy Weill, a professional boat builder.

“I’ve always wanted to catch a catfish,” Decker said, patting the new tackle box that he estimated weighs 100 pounds. “Thanks to this, we can fish the river for a catfish.”

He wants to be a commercial fisherman when he grows up, he added.

Decker and his folks will leave for Oregon on Friday. Decker will go on a private crabbing trip on a professional crabbing boat in Newport. Later he will go on a private helicopter ride over Portland.

Wishing Star has also arranged for Decker and his parents to visit the Oregon Zoo in Portland, the Portland Children’s Museum, the Newport Aquarium, the Tillamook Cheese Factory and take a dune buggy ride at Sandland Adventures.

The trip, estimated to cost about $6,000, has been funded by Wishing Star and additional donations, said Sarah Carpenter, program director at the Spokane Wishing Star office.

The nonprofit grants the wishes of about 40 children with life-threatening illnesses a year, Carpenter said.

“Having something to look forward to is very empowering,” she said. “This also provides a good time for the family to make some lasting memories.”

Perry said the family is overwhelmed by the gift.

“It’s not the items he’s getting. It’s Wishing Star and everybody that donated to Wishing Star and to these kids. It’s absolutely amazing,” she said, watching her son tinker with his new radio. “You never know how much time they’re going to have, or how well they’re to be. To have the opportunity to do something they really want to do or really want to have is a wonderful thing.”