ADAMS TWP — Christian Tumminello, 22, of Adams Township, was able to fill his freezer with months’ worth of meat, thanks to the Holy Pursuit’s Dream Foundation out of West Virginia.

The foundation in August notified Tumminello and his parents, Dave and Darcy, that their application for an all-expenses-paid Fostering Hope and Healing hunting trip had been approved.

The foundation pays for hunting, fishing and other outdoor trips for youth up to age 22 who have or had a life-threatening illness or disease.

Tumminello was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at age 5, and deals with easily broken bones due to unrelated osteoporosis.

He hunted for and took down a huge bull elk on Dec. 26 at Shiloh Ranch in Clearfield Township, where he awaited the appearance of the mighty creature with his uncle, Kevin Ray, of Jefferson Township, and a guide from the ranch.

Tumminello said after enjoying a hearty breakfast and chatting with the Shiloh staff, he and his uncle were taken to their hunting blind on the ranch’s voluminous property on a utility task vehicle, known widely as a side-by-side.

“It was a good 2 hours before we ever saw an elk,” he said.

He first spied his prey through binoculars, and his rifle’s scope remained trained on the faraway animal for 20 minutes.

“It was as big as a horse,” Tumminello said.

The elk returned to the woods, but emerged a short time later and began advancing toward the blind.

“It was moving pretty fast and I was like ‘Please stop running. Please stop running,’” Tumminello said.

The beast stopped about 30 yards away, and the Shiloh guide said it was time to take the bull down.

“So I let off the shot,” Tumminello said. “The guide said ‘I think you missed.’”

But the elk was found about 20 feet away.

“It was exhilarating,” Tumminello said, grinning at the memory. “I was shaking the whole time.”

Shiloh Ranch personnel then brought in a tractor with a bucket to haul the elk away.

“It was probably a 6-foot bucket, and it took up the whole bucket,” Tumminello aid.

Before being scooped up for processing into top-shelf venison, Tumminello and several family members had their picture taken with his kill.

“My mom brought some Champagne,” he said.

He then chose the cuts of meat he wanted, and eventually 300 pounds of elk steak, chops, burger and tenderloin was placed into his parents’ deep freeze.

“It pretty much filled up the whole thing,” Tumminello said.

He enjoys cooking up savory meals using the various cuts of meat, with his favorite being tenderloin.

Tumminello said the meat is not gamy, like that of a white-tailed deer, so no special cooking methods are necessary.

“I just treat it like beef,” he said.

He said having Shiloh Farms in his home county made his elk hunt easier, as he'd have been unable to hike for miles through the woods had he gone to another state to hunt elk.

Darcy Tumminello said she met Wendy Kovach, of the Holy Pursuit’s Dream Foundation, at a local event. Kovach suggested her family fill out an application for Christian to get a hunting package at the ranch.

“It was a great experience,” Darcy said. “The people are amazing who gave their time and money. They are pulled away from their own families to be with my son.”

Although he has definite physical limitations, Christian is well enough to hold a full-time job as an auto detailer for a car dealer and generally do what he wants if it’s not overly strenuous.

He has broken 15 bones, Darcy said, and Christian, a 2020 Mars Area High School graduate, recalled riding in a scooter after breaking his pelvis twice in 2017. He also had access to the elevators at all the schools he attended in the Mars district.

Darcy said her son, an only child who was adopted as a newborn, complained about leg pain and tiredness as a toddler and preschooler.

“He fell a lot,” she recalled. “I didn’t have any other kids to compare him to.”

At age 5, his pediatrician noticed some physical deficits and ordered the testing that revealed his diagnosis of muscular dystrophy.

Darcy said Christian was enrolled in therapeutic horseback riding as a youth, and engaged in aqua therapy as well.

However, no one knows why Christian is so surprisingly capable at his age, given his condition.

“He was supposed to be in a wheelchair at age 12, and he’s 22 and driving a truck,” Darcy said.

Christian wonders if his positive attitude has something to do with it.

“Even though I was diagnosed, I never let it hang over my head,” he said.

His parents didn’t either.

“We never said ‘Well, I don’t think you can do that,’” Darcy said. “We just let him do what he wants to do.”

One peek inside Christian’s bedroom reveals that the stint at Shiloh Ranch was not his first foray into hunting.

A bear rug, a stuffed and mounted turkey and ringneck pheasant, and other hunting mementos are placed around the room.

Christian was active with Nevin’s Hunting Friends, a nonprofit organization that takes young people out in the woods so they can experience the outdoors.

Christian mentored four or five youths with Nevin’s, which has a chapter in Chicora.

“It feels right to do stuff like that, to help people who might not have those opportunities,” he said of his experience as a Nevin’s mentor.

Ray said he began mentoring his nephew in hunting when he was about 11 years old. He always included his own son, Tyler, now 37.

“But long before I mentored him, he was showing an interest toward hunting,” Ray said of his nephew.

Setting up an accessible blind with a chair that is not too far from the location of his vehicle are ways Ray accommodates Christian’s needs in the woods.

“His family are not hunters, so I was the person, and I was willing to do it,” Ray said of hunting with Christian. “He truly enjoys it, and I think he has a love for just being out there.”

Christian verified his uncle’s assumption.

“I like going out there and clearing my mind,” he said. “I just like seeing the squirrels and hearing the birds.”

The trio have been deer and turkey hunting dozens of times, and there’s no end in sight.

“As long as he wants to go and as long as I’m able, I’ll hunt with him,” Ray said. “And if I’m not able, my son will take him.”