The value of time

 The Grande Prairie Lions Club helped create a fundraiser for my charity and as the Fundraising Chair for the Amputee Coalition of Canada it was a great honour to take the long drive. I got to represent the ACC (and as an Honorary Lion) and tell my story of being a soldier, the explosion and the recovery both physically and emotionally.

November 2005
Kandahar, Afghanistan

As I prepared for my speech to a group of about 60 very vocal and very fun Lions club members and supporters in the Northern Alberta city of  Grande Prairie I was struck about the value of time.  I did my presentation and for myself I try to make sure that my story resonates with the people.  For this time its seemed to resonate almost more with me.  The pictures of before and after are so shocking they just don't seem to be really me.

December 2005 (2 weeks before limb loss)
Laguna Beach, California  (HLTA)

February  2006
University of Alberta Hospital

Surviving the explosion and then the horrendous recovery which unfortunately I remember every moment.  The decisions to refuse skin grafts, to refuse rebuilding the legs and decide on amputation.  All factors that now 5 years hence have made me the man I am today.

Al Gore listening to me tell the story.... 2007
Top 100 Employer Summit
Toronto, Ontario

Yet I look at all that I have done..... All the work with everything from the way the Canadian Forces treats its wounded and injured soldiers, to the way Australia treats its wounded and injured soldiers, talking about the needs of not just the military but all Canadians that have suffered limb loss, creating a charity that help people and reaffirms my belief in the simple act of one person helping another through shared experiences.

Maybe its OK to lose some of your body if in the end others can have better lives because of it.  As I sat getting ready for my speech I was shocked at how pictures do not simply tell and event or time of place but when you look deep there is emotion and pride.

November 2007
Australian Natural History Museum
Sydney, Australia

Thanks to the Host Lions Club of Edmonton and the Grande Prairie Lions Club as well as the Royal Canadian Legion in making the fundraiser fun and for the Amputee Coalition of Canada  some money.   These moneys that we raise in small towns and communities will go into ways that we can help change the lives of disabled in these communities across Canada.  Peer Support seems to be the best way to reach out to far flung communities and persons with limb loss and so I want to make sure that anyone who wants a peer certification can get one.

We need these people to contact the ACC and even myself so we can organize more training cells and get even more than the 230 peer certified visitors we already have.

Accredited Peer Visitors
Across Canada

If you are interested in the peer visitor program or want a training course in your area please contact:

Amputee Coalition of Canada

6363 Hudson Road 

Montréal, Québec

H3S 1M9

Phone : 1-866-611-2677

Fax : 514-380-7087

Email : info@amputeecoalitioncanada.org