Gutless Kayaking

Steve Mason is my friend, and all round good egg. Not only has he had a thoroughly pedigree career in the City of London…(if you can call banking a pedigree career?!!), but more importantly he does some really great work for a number of organisations who use his brains and expertise to help their causes. The first, and perhaps most important of Steve’s great works is the Thalidomide Trust who have been working tirelessly in their efforts to get decent compensation for all those born with major disabilities as a result of that insidious drug Thalidomide. Not only did the drug company try and wriggle out of their ethical and financial obligations to the victims, but they also tried to deny the cause and effect of that drug, Needless to say Steve’s sleeves have been rolled up and he has been working with the Trust to reverse many of those hideous decisions, to fight for just compensation – taking on Ministers, Germans and dissenters with razor sharp instincts and a mountain of evidence to back them all up. Steve considers himself one of the “lucky ones” as a  result of that drug – he lost his middle three fingers on his right hand, with poor muscle development on his right side. To add further complications, he had to learn to write with his left hand ( as a natural righthander! What a pain!).  He has had to do a lot of work on a physical level to overcome the obstacles presented by having just a thumb and little finger to work with on one hand, and it is even more amazing that he is taking on this challenge of the big kayak trip with Justin. Holding a paddle for hours at a time is hard enough with a full set of fingers – let alone a small thumb and little finger.

Steve also does work with the Trinity Theatre, an arts charity in Tunbridge Wells – again providing them with his brains and beauty (joke!… no beauty!). He provides management and business acumen and I have no doubt – a robust and exciting set of challenges for them all to overcome, because that’s what my friend Steve does best…. find a challenge, embrace it and overcome it. I have no doubt that Steve will do his utmost to undertake this challenge with Justin, and we hope that he will persuade all his friends and colleagues in the City of London to support this amazing journey they are undertaking for the Gutless Kayaking trip. Steve’s friends and family will be rooting for him all the way. The man with one fully functioning hand joins the man with no bowel to paddle from one centre of hope in Manchester to another in London. You go boys!!! You are a true inspiration to us all!

Love Jane (Mezzone) xxxx