Fishing Has No Boundaries Helps Those With Disabilities by Paul Smith Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 9-11-2011
gengberg September 11th, 2011
Dave Coon was strapped in a hospital bed, the pain of broken bones compounded by the knowledge he would likely never walk again.Coon, of Stone Lake, said he battled despair and depression in the aftermath of the construction accident.
Questions and doubt flooded in, accompanied by precious few answers. What would his life be like? Would he regain independence? Could he be productive? Would he ever work again?
But for all the uncertainty he faced, Coon knew one thing.
“Even if I didn’t walk, I would be going fishing,” Coon said.
It’s impossible to predict how anyone would respond to such a life-changing event. Coon had one advantage, though.
In the years before the accident, Coon served as a volunteer with Fishing Has No Boundaries Inc., a non-profit group dedicated to providing fishing experiences, education and social networking to people with disabilities.
So lying in his hospital bed, Coon knew there was a group that would help him recapture a part of life that had always brought meaning and pleasure.
Through the surgeries and grueling therapy sessions, Coon’s was buoyed by one thought: Fishing.
“You don’t know how much hope that brought me,” Coon said. “And I set a goal to not only fish, but to get back to a position where I could help others fish, too.”
Coon has made it.
The accident occurred in 1993, when a scaffolding collapsed beneath him.
Today Coon has learned to navigate life’s twists and turns from a wheelchair. He pilots his own pontoon boat.
And in addition to running a business, he is back to volunteering for Fishing Has No Boundaries.
In fact, he’s co-chair of the group’s Milwaukee chapter. David Turiciano of Milwaukee is the other co-chair.
Coon had grown up athletic, competing in wrestling and ball sports on the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation in northern Wisconsin.
Fishing, though, was more than recreation. It has been a constant in his life.
“You spend time outdoors, you connect with Mother Earth, you gain energy,” Coon said. “That’s true for able-bodied people and those with disabilities.”
Founded in Hayward in 1988, Fishing Has No Boundaries has 23 chapters in 11 states.
The non-profit organization’s goal is to “open up the great outdoors for people with disabilities through the world of fishing.”
As the Fishing Has No Boundaries handbook states: “Most of us think that going fishing is as easy as a walk down to a lake. For over 56 million Americans with disabilities, it’s just not that easy.”
No one knows that better than Coon. And that’s why he’s asking for some help.
Saturday marks the fifth annual fishing outing for the Milwaukee chapter. Thousands of chinook salmon are staging off the Milwaukee shore, preparing for spawning runs.
The conditions are ripe for some very good angling. But Coon is asking for more volunteers, more participants, more boats. Continue Reading »
