Letter of Endorsement for Doug Pace, CNIB client
“It was a monstrous big river down there -- sometimes a mile and a half wide…” Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
From the desk of Paul Ting
Managing Director, CNIB - Ontario & Nunavut
Re: Letter of endorsement for Doug Pace
Leading an active lifestyle can be tough for a person who’s lost their vision. Imagine trying to exercise if you’re still learning to walk safely without your sight or maintaining a diet full of fresh, healthy foods if you’re just learning to cook for yourself again. With these challenges to overcome, it’s not surprising that people who are blind or partially sighted are often less active than their sighted peers.
But being partially sighted hasn’t stopped Doug Pace, a retired Psychiatric Nursing Assistant and CNIB client since 2000. When he was first diagnosed with vision loss , in stead of staying on the sidelines , Doug started kayaking ,earned his Blue belt in Shotokan Karate, hitchhiked to the Grand Canyon and covered extensive trails in Zion & Bryce Canyon National Park.
After logging thousands of miles on his travels demonstrating just how far blind and partially sighted people can go, Doug is about to make his most ambitious trek yet: kayaking 2,300 miles down the Mississippi River alone starting in May 2012.
Throughout this two-month trek, Doug will face off against grass-choked rivers, formidable whirlpool currents, fog, thunderstorms, giant-sized cargo ships and barges and perilous wildlife like alligators and poisonous snakes.
The magnitude of such a trip would make any person wary, but not Doug. Through his courage to brave the elements in this demonstration of man vs. nature, he serves both as an inspiration and living proof of how a diagnosis of vision loss doesn’t mean the end of an independent, active life.
We at CNIB fully support Doug as he makes this journey, and we encourage everyone to follow and cheer his progress in 2012 on his Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/blindkayaker.
Sincerely,
Paul Ting
Managing Director, Ontario & Nunavut
1929 Bayview Ave.
Toronto, ON M4G 3E8
T: (416) 486-2500 x7616
F: (416) 480-7700