It was with sadness that I read this email…
Hi Naomi
It’s my sad, sad duty to inform you that last Thursday night Steve Pickering passed away at home following what is believed to be a heart attack. We had our Gold Coast event on Sunday event, held in Steve’s memory, and following the event we cast some flowers in to the waves to honor him. A full paddle-out in his honor is going to be held soon and at his families request we will be scattering his ashes at sea.
Steve was always stoked that his 15 minutes of fame on “Secret Millionaire” resulted in your kind donation that enabled us to purchase our new equipment trailer. It was funny to watch our usually very outspoken Steve lost for words on national TV.
Regards
Ian Gay
Vice President
Gold Coast Disabled Surfers Association
www.disabledsurfers.org
Steve Pickering was passionate about the surf – he was born in the surf on Stradbroke island – and his greatest sadness when becoming a quadriplegic was his loss of the waves. He worked tirelessly for the Disabled Surfers Association – surfers supporting surfers… enabling hundreds of people with all types of disabilities to experience the joy of the surf. Following the airing of the program we stayed in touch via email, he would send my ideas that he had for businesses – he was building a surfboard to support himself, a clothing label with designs for those in wheel chairs… he had many great ideas.
Here is the excerpt from the Secret Millionaire Series 1 which aired in October 2009 – where Steve is a little stuck for words….
and also the trailer that has made life a bit easier for the volunteers at the DSA Gold Coast. I wrote a diary whilst undercover – which I can be read here.
My condolences to Steve’s family and his extended family at DSA Gold Coast – I know how much he will be missed.