Never Stop Believing
Miracles are Real
One year ago, the Hilton Head community bore witness to a nightmare. Michael Perry, beloved fishing guide of Papa Bear Charters, was back home in Tennessee, visiting friends and family, when he suffered a horrible hunting accident. By medical reckoning, no one should have survived it. But the fact that he’s here telling us his story is, to him and many others, proof of the existence of miracles.
It was a darkening eve of rain turning to sleet—the perfect scenario for a late-fall bow hunt in Tennessee. Michael was on one of his annual pilgrimages, while his wife Sarah and their two young daughters held down the fort on Hilton Head. Michael was Sarah’s prom date in their little hometown of Paris, Tennessee, and he followed her to the Lowcountry when she came to SCAD 25 years ago. Despite never having fished saltwater before, this third-generation fishing guide was thrilled to make a life for himself here as a charter boat captain, while she got to be the artist and queen of the castle. But nobody could have foreseen the harrowing twist their lives would take as Michael hurried to reach his deer stand that night.