| Testimonials |
|
Any doubt that putting a guy or gal in a kayak and fishing is good for them? August 2011 - HOW received this note from the wife of one of our heroes who went kayak fishing recently with the BAMC Chapter of HOW. Ollie was injured on April 13th, having lost a leg and mangling the other one. His injuries and the rehabilitative efforts have impacted not only him, but his wife, children and their much needed healing as a family. From his wife, Megan - "I am Ollie's wife and I cannot thank you enough for the support you have shown my husband and fa mily. There are so many things to heal after he was injured so badly. The doctors are doing well with his legs but HOW has helped him heal his heart and mind. We look forward to getting out on the water as a family soon to continue the healing process together. Thank you for all of your support.” Jim Dolan, HOW President ****** July 2011 Fort Bragg/Cape Fear Chapter
Will is a Warrior Transition Battalion soldier. A purple heart recipient, he went kayak fishing with the Chapter twice, after which he wrote the following message to HOW. "I would very much like t After receiving the email message, Matt Griffith, a Ft. Bragg/Cape Fear team leader who helped with the outings, had breakfast with Will and his wife in the hospital. Will was excited to hear that HOW wanted to quote his message and went on to say that he had never really fished before, but that now he is hooked. The Ft. Bragg/Cape Fear Chapter is an example of the successful growth of the HOW program. Former HOW participants now lead the Chapter and give back to the injured that are currently in transition as once was done for them. Check out their Recent Events. ****** Though they had the run of a 10-acre lake, Marines Aiken and Preston wound up fishing side by side, a pattern that Dolan has seen repeated on numerous occasions. “The opportunity to gather with our brothers-in-arms in a setting that’s engaging, yet relaxing is fantastic,” said Aiken, who had attended other HOW events. “I’m not a licensed therapist but I’ve seen a lot of them. Few have prescribed an activity like this as therapy but I assure you that it’s more effective than most of the therapy I’ve received.” To Aiken, who is forming a nationwide U.S. Marine Corps Chamber of Commerce, having an organized activity involving other veterans is a good transitional activity for men and women reconnecting with society. “During service, and particularly on deployment, military personnel operate as a team,” he said. “Transition is reverse culture shock. Most veterans groups focus their attention inward or to the past. HOW focuses on an activity and most young warriors in transition would rather do something other than swapping war stories around a bar. With HOW, we’re swapping stories across a pond, without the hangover.” ****** May, 2010 -- An email from an Army Captain to one of Heroes on the Water Chapter Coordinators-- “ Thank you so much for treating us to a little piece of your heaven. 'The river' truly opened our eyes to a whole new way of fishing. ;) ****** We see the benefits over and over to the injured folks. The rehabilitation aspect was an unintended consequence of helping the injured service members. Our “AHA!” moment happened in December 2007. We had a soldier with major TBI. He stuttered, would not talk to us and wanted to be left alone. He did not initially want to get in a kayak. We put him on the water for four hours by himself. When we were helping him out, we asked how his morning was. For 30 seconds he was jabbering away, talking about how great kayaking was, he caught 5 fish, and really enjoyed the time on the water. Then, he … and we realized he was talking normal. He went back to stuttering, but relayed to us that that was the first time in two years he “was able to talk normally.” He said” Now I know I can do it. Now I have hope”. It was at that point we realized that what we were doing was more than just kayak fishing. His picture is below. And this is a guy who was afraid to get in a kayak. ****** Rosalinda Babin of Round Rock has spent six years helping her son, Alan Babin, Jr., overcome gunshot wounds suffered during an 82nd Airborne Division battle. Babin sustained injuries to his liver and diaphragm, lost his spleen, 90 percent of his stomach and part of his pancreas. Six weeks later, he contracted meningitis at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and suffered a stroke. Complications from the stroke have been the hardest to overcome, said his mother. When they attended an HOW event, Rosalinda Babin was moved by the poignant image of empty wheelchairs lining the launch site, abandoned in favor of kayaks. “Looking out onto the lake, there was no way to differentiate between the able bodied and the disabled heroes—a huge therapeutic moment for the parent of a wounded warrior. Traditional therapy involves the same set of rules and activity for all, with similar results expected. HOW allows a pleasurable activity to bring therapeutic results to each participant in different forms.” ****** Heather Gardner is a recreational therapist at the Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center. Her specialty is adaptive sports with ties to the U.S. Paralympics. Gardner defines recreational therapy as a way of distracting one’s mind from the toll the body may be taking on and diverting it to something that is pleasing to the mind, body, soul, or a combination of those aspects. Gardner is not at all surprised at therapeutic breakthrough anecdotes related to kayak fishing. She’s led several groups on HOW outings. The first involved wounded warriors who were missing both legs above the knees. The majority of those participants said they wanted to fish but not kayak. A few wanted to kayak but not fish. Within 20 minutes, with no encouragement from anyone, said Gardner, every one of them was in a kayak with a fishing rod in their hands. How does Gardner assess the therapeutic value of that experience? “I’m sure it was different for each participant,” she said. “Getting away from the hospital and a daily routine can be therapeutic. Putting them in a boat where they are the sole controller can be therapeutic. Doing an activity that is not physically challenging and entirely in their control can be therapeutic. ****** Military doctors are reluctant to discuss recovering veterans but HOW volunteers have been told that kayak fishing may have the same impact on soldiers suffering traumatic brain injuries as horseback riding has on autistic children. Besides, says U.S. Army Major Cody Roberson, there’s an undeniable restorative power in nature. Roberson helped found HOW in 2007, then turned the program over to Dolan when Roberson was deployed to Iraq. Now stationed in San Antonio, Roberson is president and founder of Army Bass Angler, a pro fishing team of active duty soldiers. “The HOW program relies on Mother Nature to do what she’s been doing for a long time,” said Roberson. “I’ve seen it repeatedly. When injured vets show up for an HOW event, they don’t want to talk about their injuries. You put them in a kayak—get ‘em concentrating on paddling the boat, positioning the boat and making the cast and, next thing you know, they’re talking.” ****** From a BAMC injured soldier – We were in a meeting at the Center for the Intrepid at BAMC the 2nd week of October discussing a 10 week, one day a week program for the folks at BAMC. One of the soldier called what we do “Triple Therapy” or “all at once Therapy.” On post, he has to go to the Gym for physical Therapy, then go upstairs for his occupational therapy, and then go to the Psychiatrist for mental therapy. With kayak fishing he gets it all at once. He gets physical therapy from paddling and fishing, occupational therapy because he is learning a lifetime sport/activity, and mental because of the total concentration on himself and relaxing in nature with no distractions or expectations of performance. ****** From a Warrior Transition Battalion Commander – “This is one of the best programs I have seen for our Soldiers. It is therapeutic, inexpensive, easily transportable, you catch fish, on and on.... We are close to a lot of water around here and I would like to see more Soldiers take part” ****** 2 Oct 2009 – “Jim, ****** “I will never forget one of the kids we took fishing on the coast,” said Jim Dolan, HOW’s national coordinator. “He was totally lost in whatever had happened to him in the Middle East and, when he responded to our questions, his responses usually consisted of one word. “The first fish that he caught resulted in a big grin. Forty eight hours and several fish later, he was looking us in the eye and speaking in three or four word sentences. We didn’t cure that kid but we put a crack in the shell where he was able to see something other than his own problems.” |
