Cancer survivor, 7, catches 2 sharks off beach, thanks to Make-A-Wish

By Cassie Martinez, Jack Royer

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    DEERFIELD BEACH, Florida (WSVN) — A young Make-A-Wish kid traveled across the country to get his wish of “catching a really big one” fulfilled.

Jackson Dierenfield, a 7-year-old cancer survivor, went fishing off Deerfield Beach on Wednesday after travelling all the way from Montana with his family.

“We put a couple lines out, and not shortly after, got Jackson on his first big deep sea critter down here in South Florida, happened to be a nice mature healthy nurse shark, got some pictures with them, brought him up, got a nice safe release.” said fisherman Captain TJ.

Even though his wish came true at that moment, it was only the beginning.

“While we were trying to release that one, we hooked another one and got a nice healthy black tip as well,” said TJ. “Jackson was really excited.”

Jackson was especially excited after catching the second shark. 7News capturing the child touching the shark and being taken aback by its size.

“I thought it would be tiny teeny, but it was, like, humongous.” said Jackson.

Jackson’s mom, Jessica, told 7News that fishing got Jackson through the worst days of his cancer treatment.

“When he went through chemotherapy, he would fish, he would go fishing after he was done with chemotherapy, and it was a coping technique, I guess, to get through it, because it was really hard, and he was really sick.” said Jessica. “For him to want to fish for his wish is such a frosting on the cake, because he is now done with chemo, and it’s very special. Fishing is very special in our family.”

This cross-country trip wasn’t just a wish come true for Jackson. Jessica said the fact that her son got to experience the fishing healthy and whole is a dream come true for her as well.

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