Family and friends of Shake-A-Leg Miami,

The strangling episode that Kerry experienced, forced her to make a new life for herself. Kerry's new life blossomed at Shake-A-Leg Miami where she learned to sail, eventually competing against some of the best sailors in the world. Please read "The Kerry Gruson Story" below.

Kerry is not the only one to have been transformed by Shake-A-Leg Miami. Over the last 20 years, thousands of children and adults have learned to sail at Shake-A-Leg Miami. Most have disabilities - paraplegia, quadriplegia, blindness, deafness, autism, emotional disabilities and other challenges. Many cannot afford the program so Shake-a-Leg Miami provides services at no charge to them and their families.

Shake-A-Leg Miami wants to continue to add meaning to the lives of the disabled. Please help us by contributing whatever you can to enable us to continue to serve. Your tax deductible donation honors the spirit of Kerry who inspires us all.

Please consider using the "Donate Now" button located on this page to help us to continue to help Kerry and the thousands of other clients that Shake A Leg Miami serves annually. You may also send a check made payable to "Shake A Leg Miami" to our facility at 2620 S Bayshore Drive Coconut Grove Florida 33133. Please note "Kerry Gruson Story" on your check.

Please come join me for a sail and let me introduce you to a place where magic is created on a daily basis - Shake-A-Leg Miami on Biscayne Bay. Or hear her inspirational words as she sails on Her beloved Blew BaYou: http://youtu.be/ImNZnS3YbSw

Kerry signs her characteristic "thumbs-up," as she tests the new TackMaster3 for the crew position in a Freedom Independence 20..This boat is the work horse of Shake-A-Leg Miami's fleet on which Kerry and many other disabled people first learned to sail. Kerry dubbed it the "the water buffalo" for its slow and steady characteristics. Kerry is a founding member of the Shake-A-Leg Miami Innovations Center team. The team is currently working on a seating system for both the helm and crew positions to fit in almost any size cockpit. People with many different disabilities will have the option to be full participants on many different types of boats, both power and sail, in a safe and effective way.

The Kerry Gruson Story

SHAKE-A-LEG MIAMI: MAGIC ON BISCAYNE BAY

Kerry checks the set of the sails as she dances with her crew on Biscayne Bay!

    I was strangled by a Viet Nam War veteran, a Special Forces Green Beret, while I was interviewing him on a newspaper assignment in 1974. He had been taught to kill using his hands as a lethal weapon, had a flashback as we were talking, strangled me and left me for dead. I have always referred to this encounter as an accident and maintain that we are both victims of that war.
         
    My "accident" left me with anoxic brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen. I have limited use of my arms and legs. I'm in a wheelchair and my voice is barely audible. I reconstructed my new life by working for the Miami-Caribbean Bureau of the New York Times and made many wonderful friends. However, it wasn't until I chanced on Shake-A-Leg Miami and sailing that I discovered a passion to which I would fully commit. Once I took the helm of a sailboat, I never looked back.
        
    Though I can hardly move myself physically, finding that I can move others by taking them sailing fills me with joy. Even better is persuading someone else to take the helm so the experience becomes just as much of a magical, life-altering moment for them as it was for me. Harry Horgan, Shake-A-Leg Miami's co-founder and CEO, inspires me every day. Harry's vision and drive to overcome barriers, matched with his ability to make the seemingly impossible a reality, have launched many boats and dreams, mine included. Using adaptive equipment, I can race against the very best sailors and have competed in two World Championships.      
         
    When I sail, I leave my wheel chair behind on the dock. As I glide away from land, the lines that bind both me and my boat are loosened. I am free of the limitations imposed on my body and I venture forth to the unlimited freedom of the sea. At the helm of my beautiful blue-hulled racing sail boat, BLEW BaYOU, I dance with my crew to the beat of the wind slapping the sails and rock with the motion of the waves as we slice through choppy waters. I thrill at the competition and the camaraderie of racing against my peers, able and disabled.

    Shake-A-Leg Miami opened the door for me to become the United States' first disabled woman racer to compete at the international level. I am honored that the "Gruson-Milam Trophy" was named for me and awarded to the top woman finisher at international disabled competitions held in the United States. From 2006 to 2010, I have represented Shake-A-Leg Miami at one of the world's oldest and biggest regattas at Cowes Week, off England's southern coast. This prestigious event draws some 1,000 boats and 8,000 sailors annually. In 2008, I was delighted to receive the "Liz Earle Ladies Day Trophy" at Cowes for my contributions to sailing.

    Shake-A-Leg Miami affords me the opportunity to transcend my own disabilities by allowing me the privilege of serving the organization throughout the community and indeed the world. More important, however, is that Shake-A-Leg Miami enables me to make a difference in the lives of people I meet everywhere I go, which immeasurably enriches mine.
 
    Please come join me for a sail and let me introduce you to a place where magic is created on a daily basis -- Shake-A-Leg Miami on Biscayne Bay.

Kerry Gruson Board of Directors, Shake-A-Leg Miami

Back home after competing at the 2011 European and World Sonar Championships held in Rhu, Scotland, Kerry sips whiskey from a double-handled Scottish "friendship cup" called a Quaich (pronounced kwaygh), the Commodore's Award, that Commodore Jock Fleming of the Royal Northern Clyde Yacht Club explained is occasionally presented to an individual for their extraordinary effort. At the Awards Ceremony he told the gathering that Kerry deserved the trophy because of how she faces and overcomes the many obstacles in sailing and in her life thus becoming a source of inspiration to others.