Fishing for compassion

MILWAUKEE -- Hope is expressed in various ways, evidenced in different situations.

When it comes to an extreme demonstration, Dave Coon of Stone Lake, Wis., is in a league of his own.

His exact path to virtue is not recommended; far from it. But he does advocate the means to his end.

What would you do if you awoke in a hospital bed, body shattered, and learned you'd likely spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair?

That's where Coon found himself after a 1993 fall on his job as an ironworker .

No one would have blamed him for being devastated and depressed. And Coon certainly dealt with anger and some self-pity amid the severe physical pain.

But as days passed, he began to latch onto something else, a sense of promise and purpose.

Coon began to do something that caught his caregivers by surprise: He smiled.

In the depths of a sudden life change, Coon pulled himself up with the one thing that had been there his whole life, something that--thanks to Fishing Has No Boundaries, an organization he volunteered with before his injury--he knew would be there again.

"I knew I wouldn't be walking," said Coon. "But I knew I was going fishing.

"And if I came out of it in decent enough shape, I knew I was going to help other people go fishing, too."

Some call fishing a simple hobby. Perhaps.

Here's a certainty: They'd think differently if they met Coon.

"I was in a chair but I wasn't locked up," said Coon, recalling his recovery. "Fishing was my way forward."

Medical staff did its best to put him back together with a hardware store's worth of metal plates and screws.

Coon's face is also fixed in place. But that's his doing.

Now 16 years after his accident, Coon has remained true to his goal of helping others through Fishing Has No Boundaries, a Hayward-based charitable organization that opens the great outdoors to people with disabilities.

Founded in 1986, the organization has 23 chapters in 11 states.

Coon attended the first fishing outing the group held, on the Chippewa Flowage near Hayward. That day he assisted a paralyzed friend.

At the time, Coon had no idea how much it would also help himself.

Over the next six years, Coon continued to volunteer and raise funds for the organization.

Then one fateful day a scaffold collapsed and his life changed. At least the way he gets around in this life changed.

Though he lives in northern Wisconsin on the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation, Coon is co-chair of the Milwaukee Great Lakes Chapter of Fishing Has No Boundaries.

Coon was on the Milwaukee lakefront Tuesday, spreading the fishing gospel and recruiting volunteers for the local chapter's annual fishing outing.

He rolled his wheelchair along the sidewalks under the Hoan Bridge and at Lakefront State Park, sharing a smile and an invitation to anglers he met.

Though he lives in constant pain and often takes two hours to get out of bed, Coon is propelled by the ability to reach out to disabled people through fishing.

"The more I help, the stronger I feel," said Coon.

With co-chair David Turiciano, Coon is looking for a few dozen good men and women to assist at the event. If they have a boat and a U.S. Coast Guard captain's license, great.

The event will be held Saturday and headquartered at Lakeshore State Park. Things get going with registration and breakfast. The morning will be spent fishing from boats and on shore. About 1 p.m., a lunch will be served and awards will be given out. The entire event is free; volunteers are served breakfast and lunch. And boat captains are often reimbursed for fuel.

Coon and Turiciano, who have been raising money and finding sponsors for months, expect more than 50 participants this year.

"It's easy for disabled people to feel isolated and get depressed," said Coon. "Fishing with a group helps give us all a feeling of belonging. Plus it's in the great outdoors."

The number of participants is growing faster than the number of volunteers.

For each wheelchair angler, it's helpful to have a couple volunteers. Loading and unloading from boats, preparing fishing tackle, baiting hooks, casting, landing fish: It's all eminently possible in a wheelchair. It just sometimes requires a bit of assistance.

An angling axiom says: "You can't fill your stringer sitting there wishing."

Filling your life's creel also takes action. Sometimes, as shown by Dave Coon, it's as simple--and rich--as fishing.