Many Miles To Go

Growing up in the rural countryside of central North Carolina, Perry Nichols spent most of his free time bass fishing and playing sports. He excelled at all of it—especially football and cranking in big ol’ bucket mouths. But as he entered his teenage years, his body seemed to slow down. His mind never wallowed, but his muscles began to let him down. After seeing many specialists, he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, a genetic disease that erodes muscle strength and takes away movement.

Despite the callous grip of his disease, Nichols never stopped excelling. He built several successful businesses and owned a car dealership. He married a wonderful woman, Lisa. But when his hand strength weakened to the point that he couldn’t cast a fishing rod or turn the reel handle, he thought he was done chasing fish.

“I bass fished my whole life, all up and down the East Coast,” Nichols says. “My hands got too weak to really have much casting ability or reeling ability, so I sold my bass boats and gave away most of my stuff. I was out. I said, ‘I’m done.’”

Decades motored by, but like with most things in his life, Nichols was not done fishing just yet. While on a trip to Palm Beach in 2014, he bumped into