Deer Hunting Helps 11-Year-Old Boy Heal from Brain Cancer

Beep. Beep. Monitors are going off in the hospital room where 11-year-old Evan Rennicke is staying. He comes here every week and has for the last 10 months. It’s loud and hard to sleep. He’s thinking about the deer woods where it’s peaceful yet exhilarating at the same time. Evan’s chemotherapy treatments are fighting his cancer, but deer hunting is helping him heal.

Evan shot his first deer — a 9-point buck — at 6 years old, and he’s cherished every minute of each hunt since. This year he shot his sixth deer during archery season and his seventh during the youth gun hunt. During archery season, Evan had six bucks come into the field, but two does came in downwind and spooked all but one deer. Luckily, a spike buck that was still in full velvet turned broadside at 15 yards. Evan decided he was going to take the first shot opportunity that he got this year. “You never know how many chances you’re going to get,” said Evan. He made a great lung shot, and the deer ran only about 50 yards before folding up in the field. Evan harvested his seventh deer during the final five minutes of the 2023 youth gun hunt. The deer was 45 yards away and dropped in its tracks! This deer season is extra special for Evan since the last gun season was interrupted.

Evan’s 2023 archery buck (left) was taken on his grandparents’ old Riedel farmstead near Marshfield, Wisconsin. Evan’s 2023 youth gun hunt buck (right) dropped in its tracks at 45 yards away. The whole family has been helping Evan throughout his treatments and rejoice with him in the success he has had while afield! Photos courtesy of Andy Rennicke.

Evan’s symptoms began last year in September. He was experiencing severe headaches that were becoming progressively worse. On the day of the youth gun hunt in early October, Evan stayed in bed until 1 p.m. rather than going hunting in the morning. That’s when his family knew something was wrong if he wasn’t even getting up to go hunting. Evan finally felt good enough at 2 p.m. to get out of bed, and he harvested a mature doe that evening on public land in Marquette County, Wisconsin with his dad, Andy, and his grandpa, Scott Rennicke.

Evan with his grandpa Scott and the mature doe he shot last year during the youth gun hunt in Wisconsin. Photo courtesy of Andy Rennicke.

The headaches soon became incredibly worse and on Oct. 19, Evan could not get out of bed without vomiting. His body was in the beginning stages of shutting down. At 5 p.m. that day Evan was fit into an already full MRI schedule. By 8 p.m. his family received a call to rush to the Children’s Hospital ER for emergency surgery. That night he was operated on to relieve massive fluid swelling on the brain. The following day he endured an 8-hour surgery to remove a 5-centimeter-wide tumor, the size of a tangerine.

Surgeons removed a tumor the size of a tangerine from Evan’s brain as well as massive fluid swelling. His family was initially told he may need to relearn how to walk and talk due to the tumor’s location. Photo courtesy of Andy Rennicke.

Evan undergoing treatment for cancer. Photo courtesy of Chelsie Rennicke.

Initially, the doctors told the family it was possible Evan would have to relearn how to walk and talk due to the location of the tumor and that he may be in the hospital up to three weeks. Evan left the hospital and returned home after only six days in the ICU. He was shooting his bow two days after returning home with staples still in his head.

Evan was shooting his bow just two days after returning home from the surgery to remove a malignant tumor. He still had staples in his head. Photo courtesy of Andy Rennicke.

Soon after returning home, the family received a phone call informing that the tumor was in fact malignant and that Evan would need proton radiation therapy at Northwestern Medicine in Warrenville, Illinois, as well as a years’ worth of chemotherapy treatment at American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin.

On Nov. 20, the second day of the Wisconsin gun deer season, Evan and his parents left deer camp for six weeks of proton radiation therapy at Northwestern Medicine. They stayed at the Ronald McDonald house — a true blessing for a family at a critical time of need!

After concluding the six weeks of proton radiation therapy, Evan began the year-long treatment process of receiving chemotherapy on a weekly basis, often staying in the hospital two or three days at a time. This began in January and will last through December. Evan just completed treatment 21 of 27 and is doing well. He has endured many side effects from the treatment, but he has always looked forward to going deer hunting.

The immediate effects of chemotherapy. The long-term effects are yet to be fully known. Photo courtesy of Chelsie Rennicke.

Evan is so thankful for all the support he has received from his community, church, and even from the hunting community where recently a post about his situation received over 7,000 likes and 500 comments of support! “The outpouring of support from hunters has been truly remarkable! There are still great people out there and it just so happens many of those great people are deer hunters!” said Andy.

Evan’s ability to stay active and enjoy the outdoors while undergoing cancer treatment has been a blessing, said Evan’s mom Chelsie. The rest of his family agrees wholeheartedly. Evan’s hunting partner and grandpa, Scott, recently proclaimed that “hunting has helped heal him!”