Dedication:

With the passing of Chris Reeve on Sunday Oct. 10, 2004 I want to dedicate my voyage, www.stillmevoyage.com to him. Were it not for his inspiration I never could have made it. Upon being released from the rehab center on Oct 10, 1999, I returned to our new home in a wheel chair - paralyzed from the waist down. That was an improvement. While I lay in bed in a dark bedroom feeling sorry for myself and depressed my wife gave me an audiotape entitled "Still Me" by Chris Reeve.

I listened to it over and over again. At some point in that darkened bedroom I decided I wasn't going to let my accident beat me down. I too, decided I would walk again. Like Chris, I was "Still Me"

Plan for “Kripples n Kayaks”

My wife and I want to develop classes at rehab centers across the country to teach disabled to use a “Sit on Top” kayak for rehabilitation and motivation. Working with their caregiver/partner we will teach the disabled to get onto and off of the kayak. We will use certified rehab therapists to enable them to transfer from the water to the boat.

After that the caregiver and client will work as a team to do a “rescue.” A rescue is a technique wherein a person, after falling out of a boat learns to get back in and continue the trip. It is vital to the safety of the individual and gives them the sense of security needed to accomplish the task.

After completing the training in a pool, they will become comfortable doing the exercise and being in the water with the kayak. The next step is to go out onto a lake and practice paddling, going to shore and learning to transfer out of water and into a special wheel chair. The wheel chair is carried in caregiver/partner’s canoe.

At this point the training is done. The disabled are now ready to tackle this part of their life on their own. The next step would be kayaking rivers or the ocean, and then perhaps overnight camping, if so desired. My hope is that, this experience will do for them what it did for me – give them hope, a sense of achievement, and motivation to move on.

Only by dreaming about what is possible can one begin to strive for the achievement of making it happen. Only by making it happen can we reach our dreams and goals. “Happiness runs in a circular motion” – Donavan Leech, 1967.

Ours is a two part service:

1. Identify, locate and set up rehab teaching in different cities

2. Identify, locate and set up outfitters in different areas of the country and Canada that will offer trips for the disabled