Rolling on the river: epic fundraisers canoe for our cause

“I’ve always pushed and challenged myself,” says Shaun Gash, fresh from his latest fundraising adventure. You’re telling us. This time, the distance was vast, the timeframe short, and the local wildlife occasionally deadly. Shaun, along with fellow paraplegics Michelle Moffatt and Liam Morris, undertook a remarkable journey on the Zambezi River, canoeing nearly 300 kilometres in just seven days.

They faced charging elephants and harrowing capsizes in waters filled with hippos while attempting to set a Guinness World Record in the sweltering 40-degree heat. Their goal was to raise money for Whizz Kidz and Spinal Research.

Shaun, 53, first canoed down the Zambezi when he was just 15 years old and dreamt about doing it again after he became a paraplegic amputee in a car crash at 20. Since then, Shaun tells us he has dedicated his life to pushing himself physically and mentally:

“…While my old life ended that night in 1991, I was given a new life, and I want to make the most of it.”

In 2018, he sadly lost one of his legs after a nasty fall while attempting to climb Ben Nevis, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to achieve his dream.

 “I don’t want to look back and think ‘I wish I’d done that’, I want to look back and think ‘I did that’. And along the way, I’m supporting two great charities – it’s all about giving back,” he says.

Shaun started working with Whizz Kidz when we provided 18 custom-fitted sports chairs for his wheelchair basketball team, the Lancaster Bulldogs, where he coaches young people between the ages of 6 – 18.

Joined by fellow adventure seekers Michelle and Liam, they spent the best part of a year training to canoe down the river, preparing for their trip at the end of October. They set off from Chirundu, a small town in Zambia, and reached the Mozambique border—but not without some challenges.

Liam, from Askham-in-Furness, Cumbria, was paralysed from the waist down in a motocross accident 11 years ago. The instrumentation engineer at BAE Systems in Barrow has not let his disability stop him from pursuing a range of sports—from wheelchair racing to adapted rowing—but nothing prepared him for his first day on the Zambezi.

His canoe capsized in waters where, only a month previously, a British tourist had suffered multiple injuries after being attacked by a hippo. The following day, the 35-year-old Lancaster Bulldogs wheelchair basketball player was catheterizing when an elephant decided to charge.

“The first day had been going so well, and then suddenly one of the guides in a canoe in front shouted ‘hippo,’ and the next thing we struck something, and my guide and I were flipped into the water,” said Liam, whose father Darren was with him on the expedition.

“The tents, wheelchair, everything went into the water. We had actually struck a tree stump, but I didn’t know that at the time, so it was pretty scary. I think I also set a land speed record in my wheelchair when the elephant charged!”

“It was such an incredible experience which I will never forget,” said Michelle. “A couple of years ago, I was thinking about ending my own life because I couldn’t see how it could be worthwhile.”

As a former critical care nurse, Michelle’s life changed instantly when she bent down to pick up a pen on a night shift at Glasgow’s Golden Jubilee Hospital in 2019.

A prolapsed disc had gone into her spinal cord. Post-surgery complications then caused a bleed on her spine, leaving the Mum-of-four from Dumbarton paralysed from the waist down.

“So to be able to do this, to help others and to give something back is just mind blowing. My mindset has completely changed, and I hope I’m showing my kids that no matter what challenges you face in life, you do your best, and anything is possible.”

Shaun said: “I’ve done many challenges, but this was by far the most life-affirming. I’ll take away new friendships, a host of amazing memories and the knowledge that we have potentially changed the lives of so many people.

“I hope we have shown people that disability is not a barrier to achieving epic things. We’ve applied for a Guinness World Record and are aiming to raise a lot for two great charities.”

In addition to fundraising for Whizz Kidz and Spinal Research, they donated stationery supplies to a local school and travel chairs to a local hospital.

Shaun says, “By challenging myself, I hope to inspire others. If I can change a person’s mindset in a positive way, then that’s amazing, and I’m always really humbled when people say I have made a difference.”

You can support Shaun and his team here. Contact us today if you want to take on your own challenge to support Whizz Kidz.