WARNER ROBINS/LAGRANGE, GEORGIA - Cody McDuffie is a 14-year-old boy who lives in Warner Robins, GA. He seems to be the normal teenage boy, but Cody is currently suffering under the diagnosis of leukemia/cancer.

Cody is undergoing chemotherapy to treat his condition and has been in continuous treatment for two years now. He expects treatment to continue, at a minimum, until he turns sixteen.

His life will always be in the shadows of this life-threatening disease. While he is in remission, he never knows when the prognosis could change.

There is one solace in this sea of turmoil and that’s fishing!

On days that he is too weak from treatments to do almost anything else, he simply asks his mom to take him to the pond where he sits with his cane pole and fishes.

Cody and his mom visited with the International City Optimist Club recently. He told the club members about his one big wish. He said: “I would like to scuba dive on a coral reef or catch some really big fish.”

Unfortunately, the doctors have told him that scuba diving was out of the question, but the fishing idea seemed like it might be a way to put aside the worries of cancer, if only for a little while.

So the International City Optimist Club began to call around and ask folks who might be able to make a day of fishing a reality in a big way. What resulted is the setup of Cody’s “Big Day.” Cody will be fishing with champion Rick Tilson www.ricktilson.com in the American Bass Anglers Division 1 Regional on West Point Lake Sept. 19-20.

Meanwhile, Club President Andy Thomas says that the International City Optimist Club members are working out the final details on a deep-sea fishing trip in the near future.