Davy Wotton, Misako Ishimura and Mark Romero _ T-Bird picture

If there was one person I didn’t want to leave off the thank you list yesterday it was the indefatigable Faye Clark. Faye gave up her day off yesterday to come and run the backroom stuff, our online sales, change, and handle the less seen stuff. I looked through the pics we had received so far and couldn’t find her, she didn’t stop moving long enough.

She’s also had the unenviable task of writing names and telephone numbers on the hundreds of raffle tickets we sold online, so a huge thank you to Faye.

Faye’s husband Mike, who also was on of the tiers yesterday has been one of the main drivers behind the benefit.

Jenn and Chris Fowler from Bentonville at the Tye-A-Thon _ photo by T-Bird

The Tyers and Support Crew surround Tiffany Johnson

BEYOND our wildest dreams I don’t think any of us believed the Tye-A-Thon would be such a runaway success with just under $3500 raised for the Tiffany Johnson Benefit Fund. 

For that we thank each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts, we couldn’t have acheived so much from such an relatively small event without your generosity of spirit and pocketbook. 

 It was also fabulous to see Tiffany come back through the door of the fly shop onto “home turf”. This was Tiffany’s first time out of hospital since her spinal surgery on the Monday before Christmas and what a welcome. I know she truly truly enjoyed the spread of homemade food y’all provided after 6 weeks of hospital fare and they were truly touched by the turnout and effort on their behalf 

As a former journalist I’m embarassed to admit I don’t remember a word of Chad’s thank you speech to quote this morning, all I can see and hear is the emotion in his voice and his eyes _ and I felt the same way. Tiff and Chad are truly overwhelmed by the generosity y’all are showing towards them in their time of need. 

Tiffany and Chad return to home turf together again

But I’m sure you want to know who won the prizes:First prize and the Monster Fly Collection went to long-time friend of the flyshop, Mary Kay Cauldwell of Memphis. Second prize went to Bell Holloway, also of Memphis and thrd prize to Rob Uselton of Jonesboro. Chad incidentally had taught Beth’s nephew to fly fish on Dry Run Creek and Rob has been another regular in the shop for many years. 

Davy Wotton tied this beautiful Purple King Spey fly at the Tye-A-Thon

Click through for more thankyou and some of our photos of the event. If any of the photographers who attended want to share some photos we would love to host them there. You can send photos to tjbf2009@gmail.com and we will post them up here. 

The Tye-A-Thon

We set relatively modest goals for the Tye-A-Thon this is a small community in winter, but we wanted to generate some momentum for the Online Auction we will be hosting at the end of the month. We wanted to get some flies tied, get the Fund noticed, and hopefully build a team to carry this forward. 

But you blew us away, and for that everyone is enormously grateful and energised. I do want to mention some people specifically without whom this couldn’t have happened: 

Mark and Misa hard at work on the tying table

• Mark Romero from Swallow’s Nest Fly Tyers  whose “crazy” idea for a Charity Tye-A-Thon coalesced into this event and his wife Misako’s for her thoughtful thank you cards to each tyer. They were both tying stalwarts all day
• Carrie Simmons, owner of the Mountain River Fly Shop who allowed us to use the Fly Shop facilities and the online store to sell tickets.
• Davy Wotton and Teresa Van Winkle,  who pulled together flies from some huge names in the business to join the effort, promoted the event through their facebook pages and and then spent 12 hours each at the tying table. You can see one of the results above.
• Joey Puckett for his humor, friendship and his deer chilli and for organising the table and chairs plus the grace and fine cornbread of his employer Chelsey Reger at Clutter Junkies.
• Bill and Sara Thorne and Marc Poulos for their chilli and assistance in the running.
• Patty Leuken, for her flies and for beating the bushes among friends in the Arkansas Fly Fishers and walked in with a $400 donation.
• Patty’s friend Charlotte who handed me a bag of silver coins from her granddaughter for Tiffany, which just about brought a tear to my eye.
• Bob Cooke at the Blue Ribbon Fly Shop for his donation of sandwiches to feed the crew.
• Theresa and Chuck Tyrell from Bella Vista who not only drove 3 hours across the state, brought along a bunch of seriously good cookies but then turned around and production tied all day. 
• Illness kept Jeff Hearn from tying but he had organised 14 cases of sodas and two boxes of chips for sustenance
• Greg Dodds drove from Tulsa to be with us and to deliver two monster flyboxes full from the Tulsa Fly Fishers.
• Kevin Slatter who came all the way from Iowa to tie at the event and cranked out some great flies over 12 hours.
• Jimmy Traylor who brought along his tungsten beads for sale and donated half the price to the benefit.
• John and Lori Berry, who between them gave us enormous publicity through John’s Baxter Bulletin column, baked brownies and cookies and tied all day.
• My mate Rob Rummel and Steve Stinnett who drove themselves seperately down from Springfield and ended up sitting next to each other cranking out big streamers, and laughing a lot.
• Betty Paul who walked in with several dishes of delicious breakfast slice to kickstart the tying.
• Richard Ramsay’s neighbour Betty, who provided doughnuts, 2 cheesecakes, a massive cooler and much more.
• Each and every fly tyer who came along or contributed flies to the event. As the day unfolds I’m going to list your thank you’s seperately, as I work through our fly collection stacked in the office.
• And finally but not the least my family: Lynsey who worked tirelessly selling tickets and much more, Crystal who tied a bunch of midges, worked on the food prep. I know some people were wondering why the Crystal Graham seat was left untended for so long _ she was helping Tiffany get ready for her first public appearance since the operation; and my gorgeous, caring, and sustaining wife Bec, who not only has to a sacrifice much for the stuff I do but then jumps in to help at every opportunity.

Thank You All 

Steve Dally 

Now enjoy some more pictures! 

Rabecca Dally and Marlee Shields enjoying the fun

Rob Rummel dealing with deer hair

Betty watchs Bob Jensen tie

Bec oversees the amazing spread of food donated and brought along

Crystal Graham at the vise

Preparing a wing

Theresa and Chuck Tyrrell gave a huge effort baking tying and driving over from North West Arkansas

Win A Pile Of Flies For $5 and Help A Great Cause

Now you can buy tickets online in our Monster Fly Raffle held in conjunction with the Swallows Nest Fly Tyers/Mountain River Fly Shop Charity Tye-A-Thon on January 23.

We have a fantastic lineup of tyers coming along and a selection of great flies heading in by post from a host of amazing tiers, both well known and relatively anonymous. We have signature flies coming from tiers including Charlie Craven Dave Whitlock April Vokey, Davy Wotton, Hans Weilennman, Mike Kinney, Cary Marcus and many, many others.

Plus we have a great lineup of tiers from Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma coming along to the Tye-A-Thon to tie flies for the Benefit from 9am to 9pm. Come along and watch tyers like Davy Wotton, John Berry, Teresa Van Winkle and many others. We will have some great homemade chilli and ham and beans and more available for tiers and supporters.

Tiers are submitting 3 identical flies, or in several cases multiple sets of 3 flies, to go into the prize pool. First place is 2 flies of every pattern submitted, each signed and authenticated by the tier. Some are made to fish others carry a beauty and collectability. I can tell you each fly has been tied by fly tiers touched by Chad and Tiffany’s story.

Second and third place prizes will split the remaining flies in the pool.  Tickets are $5 apiece and $10 for 3. You can buy tickets though this link CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS ONLINE, in person at the Mountain River Fly Shop or by sending a check.

Checks should be made out to the Tiffany Johnson Benefit Fund only, and include a note that these are for tickets int the Raffle

Mail checks to TJBF Flies

c/-Mountain River Fly Shop

1200 West Main No.7

Cotter Ar 72626

Our good friends Sammie and Monica Shields have put together this event at the Norfork Community Hall on Highway 5. Pasta, bread and homemade dessert. A big thanks to owner of Salem Drug for helping out with the food

Cost if $5 for Adults and $2 for children. Takeout available.

Almighty God, we pray that Tiffany, our sister,
may be comforted in her suffering and made whole.
When she is afraid, give her courage;
when she feels weak, grant her your strength;
when she feels afflicted, afford her patience;
when she feels lost, offer her hope;
when she feels alone, move us to her side;
Gracious and merciful God, empower Tiffany and her family with the strength and courage to face the days to come.
Amen

I will be keeping them both in my prayers …

Grace and peace

Pastor Ben

Pastor Ben, from the heart of fly fishing country in south-west Montana is a member of an online community I frequent, its a rough-shod sort of place, but with tremendous heart. These guys have have been lining up to help out, some had met Chad but most don’t know either Chad or Tiffany at all but they are doing their bit as they can

 I posted an update today and along with some donations came Pastor Ben’s prayer, which I wanted to share for y’all and mostly for Chad and Tiffany to read.

He also offered them some other words of encouragement. Thank you Ben.

I was happy to hear that Tiffany got through the surgery! If I may be as so bold as to offer some advice to Tiffany and Chad….

Tiffany: The next few months are gonna be full of hard work and at times great successes interspersed with small setbacks….KEEP THE FAITH!…don’t lose sight of your goals…listen to your therapists, even though they may seem to take great joy in, coming up with new exercises that push you beyond your limits. When your laying in bed and are bored to tears…do the exercises that the PT’s and OT’s have given you…Don’t lose sight of your goals…don’t get frustrated when your recovery does not seem to be happening fast enough……

Chad: help your sweetie stay focused on the goals…stay upbeat as much as possible…when it is possible go with your sweetie to therapy, pay attention to how the exercises are done and the techniques so that you can help her when she is trying to do them on her own…doing the exercises right is important…Trust me on this point: leg and foot massages are the a great comfort in the early evening and morning…

Brad McMinn's logo for the Tiffany Johnson Benefit

HERE is our logo, courtesy of some fine work from a friend of Steve’s artist Brad McMinn. Brad doesn’t know Tiffany or Chad but stepped up to the challenge of coming up with a logo from our random thoughts, waiving his normal fees to help out.

Steve lobbed a bunch of words in Brad’s direction, things that were special to Tiffany: hearts, butterflies, the outdoors, mountains and the color purple had to be in there too. And we told him we wanted a logo applicable to t-shirts; hats; and more.

These will be in the works.

Brad’s work is fantastic, and while we know he wasn’t in this for a plug, we are going to give his own business one anyway, he deserves some love from all of us. Check out flyfishinart for some of his fishing work, its phenomenal.

THIS might be the hardest update we have had to write yet, but we can only imagine how hard this realisation must be for Tiffany and Chad. While the Doctors regard the operation as a success in removing her spinal tumor, Tiffany remains paralysed from the waist down. She requires total care.

Chad told us tonight that her doctors have indicated they believe 6 months of rehabilitation will see Tiffany back on her feet with a walking frame. In 12 months they believe she will be walking better than she went into Little Rock Hospital. But progress on returning feeling and movement in her legs and left arm has slowed.

Tiffany is now facing at least one month (and quite possibly 2 months) in hospital (hopefully in Mountain Home) undergoing intensive therapy to meet those targets, and then more.

We don’t say these things to upset you, her friends and family. Rather we talked to Chad at some length tonight and he had been talking with friends and family following progress through Facebook and here. Perhaps the focus on the successes played down too much the fight Tiffany still faces.

This is going to be a long and slow process just to recover from this surgery. We also need to remember Tiffany still faces brain surgery to deal with at least one tumor. 

Our friends Chad and Tiffany still need our support, letters and emails of encouragement, your thoughts and prayers and ultimately our hard work as fundraisers. We need to maintain our drive, our passion, and our efforts to help this couple.

We all know they would be doing the same for us

Chad at the vise

THE Mountain River Fly Shop and Swallow’s Nest Fly Tiers will hold a Charity Tye-A-Thon on January 23 for the Tiffany Johnson Benefit Fund. We have a really strong list of fly tiers lined up for the event, plus some big name tiers contributing flies to the Tye-A-Thon Raffle.

There are many ways to help out including volunteering to tie at the event, donating flies if you cannot make it along on the 23rd and buying tickets in the Major Fly Raffle, or simply walking in and supprting the tiers.

The major prize will be 2 signed and authorised flies of all those donated, by well known fly designers including Davy Wotton, Charlie Craven, April Vokey, Bruce Chard, Hans Weilemann and many many more quality local tiers.

Second and third prize will split the remaining flies donated to the Raffle. Tickets for the Raffle are on sale in the shop for$5 each or $10 a time. We are expecting first prize to be worth in excess of $300 at retail value, let along the collectibly value.

RAFFLE  TICKETS

We are endeavouring to get online sales established but you can also send checks with your name and address made out to the Tiffany Johnson Benefit Fund. Please include a note that these are for the Fly Raffle.

Send the checks to:

 TJBF Raffle

c/- Mountain River Fly Shop

1200 West Main No 7

Cotter AR 72626

FLY DONATIONS

Tiers can donate flies to the Raffle in sets of 3 identical flies of the same type/pattern/color.

Each fly should be accompanied by a card detailing the fly name, the tier’s name and signature. We welcome tiers including any business/contact affiliations. We do like to let people know who the good folks in the industry are.

We will accept larger quantities of flies, in dozens or half-dozens, but these will be put towards our online charity auction later in the month. Any other particularly valuable or collectible flies, like full-dress salmon flies etc, will be donated to the auction. Our goal is to use these flies in the best way to maximise the returns for chad and Tiffany.

Send your sets of 3 flies to

Fly Donation

c/- Mountain River Fly Shop

1200 West Main No 7

Cotter AR 72626

COME ALONG AND TIE

We still have spots available for the Tye-A-Thon on January 23. We are rostering tiers through our main tying area in 3 hours shifts currently, Please indicate whether you want to tie in the am, pm or evening.

Bring your own materials, vise and lamp. We should have enough tables though if you plan to spend the whole day tying, you might be advised to bring a table as well.

If you wish to tie you can email Mark Romero or Steve Dally. Please include your name, telephone and email contacts, time you wish to tie, and if you are joining the pot luck. 

Many tiers have told us they are bringing food plates, we have 2 pots of good chilli lined up, so if you would like to help in this regard it would be appreciated.

Tiffany sitting up in a chair Christmas Day _ Chad Johnson photo

Its now been a week since the operation and Tiffany appears to be making good progress. Spending Christmas in hospital would not be anyone’s preference but as you can see she received a few Christmas presents including being able to get out of bed and into a chair.

Even better Tiffany managed for the first time to move her entire left leg _ it was only 1/2 an inch but it was as good as a mile to the Johnsons. Tiff spent about 9 hours on the operating table to remove the 6″ tumor growing down her spine. Several sections of vertebrae were removed to allow the neurosurgeons access, who then set about removing the tumor which for 3″ was entwined in her spinal column.

Understandably after this type of surgery, which is so rare we are told less than 100 have been performed worldwide, it has taken some time for Tiff to recove feeling and movement, particularly on he left side. But she is making progress every day.

Mike and Faye Clark reported back via Facebook after visiting the Johnsons Saturday

Today my wife Faye and I got to visit with Tiffany and I was so touched by her courage. All smiles, full of hope and determination.

She moved her left foot I’d guess two inches and her left arm up and down. She is making great progress and Chad is taking such good care of her. Watching the two of them together taught me… more about how two people should love each other than I have learned in my entire life.

God bless both of them

If you look left you can see our new Facebook widget to keep you all better informed about Tiffany’s progress. Chad and other friends have been updating the page regularly.

WE are enormously grateful for the generosity of spirit from people asking how they can help Chad and Tiffany through this difficult time, and those who have donated goods, services, time and cash donations.

You donations have helped enormously in meeting the Johnson’s up front medical bills for the next two weeks. But currently we are in need of cash/check donations to take us through January when our other major events kick off.

We all know Christmas is tight, we understand, but every little bit helps. Twenty five dollar donations buy the same amount of comfort as one $100 donation. We would ask that instead of overtaxing your own budget, make a donation you can afford and get a handful (or more) friends to match it.

Put up a collection jar at your workplace or business, take up a collection at your club. As always you can contact us for more advice