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Healing Waters
This young man's road to recovery is covered with water.
STORY BY GARY THOMAS
PHOTOS BY ADELE HODDE
Fishing keeps Roger Shaw
healthy.
The 15-year-old sophomore at Urbana High School has
his brother to thank for that. Roger
was born with scoliosis, a sideways
curvature of the spine. The degree
of scoliosis can range from mild to
severe. Patients with milder curvature only need to visit their doctor
for observation periodically. Persons with more severe cases usually require treatment. When the
curvature to Roger's backbone got
to 56 degrees a year ago, he was
told he would need an operation to
correct the problem. That surgery
took place at Shriners Hospital in
St. Louis this past March, when
doctors removed a couple of his
ribs and straightened out his spine.
Roger also has competed as a
high school wrestler, and while he
knew he couldn't compete this
school year, he told the doctor he
hoped he could continue participating in this sport when he is a junior.
His surgeon told him this would be
possible, especially if he would
work to make his recovery from the
surgery speedier by getting active
right away. The doctor told him to
get out and move around to regain
his mobility as quickly as possible.
His brother Wayne had just the
cure. He took Roger fishing. Not just
once, but over and over. And when
he couldn't take him fishing, he sent
him. Sometimes his mom would go
along and fill in as his partner.
It turns out that bass fishing is the
perfect type of exercise for Roger.
You do a lot of standing, bending
and moving around the boat
throughout the day, all of which are
good for the healing process.
It's not as though Roger hadn't
been fishing before. Brother Wayne
is a tournament fisherman, and has
been dragging his brother along on
Wayne Shaw had the solution to helping his 15-year old brother
Roger (inset) recuperate from a serious back operation. He took him fishing.
Roger lifts a largemouth bass out
of the water at Lake Shelbyville,
while older brother Wayne
watches. The two fish together on
several tournament circuits.
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fishing trips since he was in kindergarten. In fact, Roger fished with his
brother Wayne in his first bass fishing tournament when he was just 7
years old. They didn't win the event,
but they finished in the money.
Although he grew up fishing
ponds, Wayne, 30, got serious
about bass fishing when he was a
junior in high school. When he
was just 17, he convinced a local
bass club that he was a year older
so he could begin fishing tournaments. And the first thing he did
after graduating from high school
was to buy a bass boat. He has
been upgrading his equipment ever
since, and today fishes out of a
new 20-foot Ranger Boat with a
225 horsepower Evinrude motor
on the back.
He fishes as many tournament
trails as his schedule will allow,
including two league events—Big
Bucks Bass and Super Bass—with
his brother Roger as his partner.
When this story was being written,
he was fishing the WalMart Bass
Fishing League (he was in first
place after four tournaments); Big
Bucks Bass (he finished in second
place); Super Bass (he could only
fish two of this league's six tournaments due to conflicts with other
tournaments); Bass World Sports
(he was in fifth place); Clinton
Lake Midwest Sportsman (he won
the first tournament and was in
eighth place overall); and the Illini
Team Trail (he was in first place as
this was being written). He also
manages to fish 5 or 6 special one
day tournaments during the year.
When Wayne isn't fishing with
his brother, he usually has Roger
off scouting a lake where he'll be
fishing the following weekend.
Not to be outdone, brother Wayne
hits paydirt a few minutes later,
hooking into a 3-pound bass.
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If you think Wayne has the bass
fishing bug, and he definitely does,
consider this: Roger is just 15
years old, and he fishes every
weekend, and a few evenings each
week if he can work them in. He
already owns two boats and a truck
to pull them. He doesn't have a drivers license yet, so mom or his
other brother, Clint, has to do the
driving to and from the lake. Roger
works nights cleaning offices to
support his fishing habit. He's a
pretty good angler, too. He's
already managed to acquire two
sponsors—Midwest Marine Sales
in Rantoul and Falcon Rods.
Wayne also is sponsored by
Midwest Marine/Ranger Boats and
Falcon Rods, plus RC Lures in
Herrin and Gregory's Resort on
Lake Shelbyville.
Roger's doctors say he is making
good progress, and while they don't
want him to try out for the wrestling
team this school year, they are confident his back will be healed enough
for him to wrestle the following
year. The hard part is going to be
getting him off the water.
September 2001
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