SANDS USA - My Story

When I turned 17 I joined the Army and spent six years serving my Country. I learned a great many things during my tour of duty. One of which was my love of being outdoors and on my own. Just me and mother nature. I loved being in all the different settings and  surroundings, it was like being paid to be a camper. What a great job. After my tour in the service I had a couple of different jobs to make ends meet, but it wasn't until 1983 when I became an over-the-road truck drive that my love of being out and on my own was realized again. Having the opportunity to travel across the country and getting paid to visit all these different places.

I drove trucks for the better part of 14 years, and I loved every minute of it. I would probably still be doing it if it wasn't for my health. I developed high blood pressure and I had to give up driving when I was not able to pass the DOT physical any longer.

That is when I went to school to be a Certified Nursing Assistant. My plan was to work my way through either nursing or P.A. (Physician's Assistant) school. That's when I got hurt. One night I caught a little lady falling out of bed and I hurniated a disc in my lower back. They had to operate on my back to try to save what was left of the disc, but it didn't work. The doctor had to go back in and remove the disc and fuse two of the vertebrae in my back. Then the disc above it went and I had to have more surgury and that meant being fused again.
Shortly after my forth surgery they diagnosed me with degenerative disc desease, then another disc went, and that ment more surgury. Now I am fused from L-3 to S-1, and two of the vertebrae in my neck has been fused as well. With all of the surgury I went through the scar tissue got so big it cut off the feeling to my legs and that over time put me into a wheelchair.

Where I have been since the year 2001.

It was after being locked away for over five years from all of the surguries that I decided I needed to try getting back out into the outdoors and do some of the things that I love to do, like fishing, hunting, and camping.

My wife was not able to get me around by herself any more so I came up with the idea to go onto the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission's Forum page and ask if there was any one willing to help me out. The post was "Disabled Hunter Needs Help". There turned out to be a lot of hunters and fishermen willing to lend a hand and take me out and that is how the SANDS program came to be.

SANDS- Sportsmen Assisting Nebraska's Disabled Sportsmen.

Two of the people that responded were Mike Freel and Rik Cutting. They both took me out hunting a number of times. During our outings Mike, Rik and I tossed the idea around of doing something like this for other people with disabilities, how would it work and what all would we have to do to make it work? We all agreed that it was a good idea and that it would not take much to get it going.

Now I have a job with AmeriCorps. A National Organization that works to strengthen communities through volunteerism. My boss thought that this was a great idea and we talked about how AmeriCorps could help to take SANDS from the drawing table to reality. Now AmeriCorps allows me to work on events for the SANDS program and they help with funding this web site.

While I have been working here at AmeriCorps they have allowed me to expand on the SANDS idea by going to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission with the idea to see if they would be willing to get on board with the idea. Mike and I spent a couple of hours talking to Greg Wagner of the Nebraska Game and Parks and he loved the idea. Greg gave us a lot of great ideas on how to present the idea to the State people. Now we have a web site set up to help link able-bodied outdoors-men and women with people with disabilities to help those people to get outdoors and back into nature.

It took the Game and Parks Commission people less than three months to approve the idea and adopt SANDS. Now in our first year and we have lots of people interested in donating their time and knowledge to help others get outside.

I can't begin to tell these people what this means to me, all of these people willing to help others the way they do.

I am very grateful to each and every one of them for all that they are willing to do.