Nothing was going to get in the way of Rich "Doc" Bosco getting his Big Five.

Not even a brain tumor.

Bosco, 61, an oral surgeon in Butler for 25 years before retiring in 2002, was diagnosed with brain cancer in September of 2007.

A longtime hunter who made his first trip to South Africa to big-game hunt in 2003, Bosco had bagged a lion, leopard and cape buffalo before scheduling his fifth South African hunt this summer.

He needed to bag a rhino and elephant to complete the Big Five of big-game hunting. Problem was, his uncertain health threatened to sabotage the trip.

"I thought that was it,"Bosco admitted. "I didn't think I'd get the chance to go."

His son, Rick, wasn't sure if the hunt would happen, either.

"We just didn't know," Rick Bosco said. "We weren't sure how comfortable my dad was gonna be."

Bosco's hunting guide in South Africa, John Lyut, became good friends with him in recent years and stays with the Bosco family during annual trips to Western Pennsylvania.

While visiting over the winter, Lyut told Bosco he had an opening for a safari hunt in June.

"He (Bosco) really wanted to go,"family friend Aaron Donahue said. "You usually have to book those hunts a year and a half in advance, buty John had an opening and Doc was feeling OK.

"He decided to go for it and a few of us jumped on the bandwagon with him. It all happened pretty quick."

Bosco, his son, and Butler residents Donahue, Steve Paraska and Jason Burris took off for the 15-day South African hunt. They combined to bag 36 animals during the adventure.

But only one person mattered.

"This was all for Doc,"Donahue said. "He's been like a dad to all of us for years. He's been like a dad to everybody.

Bosco bagged the rhino during the third day of the hunt. But time was running out on finding the elephant.

"The size of an elephant, you'd think it'd be easy,"Bosco's son said. "But the bush country over there is so big and thick. There could be a herd 50 yards from you and you wouldn't see them."

On the 11th day of the hunt, Bosco completed the Big Five, bagging a 10-ton elephant sporting 30 pounds of ivory on each side.

Bosco did not bring the trophies home with him, but reproductions are being made.

"I waited for that moment for a long time,"Bosco said of getting the elephant. "I went over there three times before trying to hunt one, unsuccessfully.

"This is a big deal to me. It fulfills a lifetime dream. It (elephant) was icing on the cake, after getting the rhino. I never thought I'd get it."

Bosco's wife, Teri, said the anticipation of the hunt helped her husband through tough times physically.

"He had a difficult winter, but planning that hunt and looking forward to it helped get him through everything," she said.

Bosco completed the hunt while feeling ill. One hour after getting off the plane back home, he was hospitalized with pneumonia.

A brain scan revealed his tumor was growing again and Bosco underwent more surgery and another form of chemotherapy.

"His doctor never wanted him to make that trip,"Mrs. Bosco said. "He was concerned about his physical well-being over there. He asked (Rich)if he realized he had a life-threatening illness.

"His reply was, "Yes, but I can have a life-threatening illness in Africa or a life-threatening illness here.' And he was going.

"Nothing was going to stop him. I knew that," she added.

Bosco never took a South African safari until he retired. Once he made the first one, "I was hooked," he said.

His son can identify with that.

"This trip was my first one to Africa. It won't be my last,"the younger Bosco said. "This stuff gets in your blood."