“A dude in a wheelchair is touching this soil.”

Imagine planning the Alaskan fishing adventure of a lifetime to a place so remote that only 50 or so people a year manage to fish your target waters. The adventure to get there is epic and includes float planes, boats, daunting portages and once that is done you’ve got eight days in the middle of nowhere to contend with before you rendezvous with the float plane that you scheduled to bring you back to civilization. 

Now imagine having to account for your wheelchair and the fact that you can’t walk. If factoring that into your plans doesn’t seem impossible, you might be cut from similar fabric as Jesse Alberi. He accounted for all that and a film crew to document the adventure that he hopes will inspire people all over the world to work past their limitations and live life to its fullest. 

“It started with me and four of my friends. The five of us wanted to go up to Alaska and go out deep,” explained Alberi, whose film"Mend " is scheduled to show at the Madison Theatre on April 16 at 7 p.m.  

“We decided that we were going to bring a film crew along with us to try and capture it all and show people that anybody can do these things. Don’t let your disability hold you back, and if you still want to go do these things, anything's possible.”

Before the trip Alberi was already a powerful force who helped people who found themselves in life changing circumstances similar to his rediscover the things they love to do. His story began with an accident and led Alberi to make a choice not to just simply survive, but to learn to once again do the things that made his life worth living. 

After adjusting to the basics of living as a paraplegic, Alberi set his sights on finding ways to continue to experience the things he loves. Fishing was tops among those things and once he figured out how to do it, he set about sharing the wealth. 

He founded Access Unlimited and became a mentor and inspiration for people with disabilities all over the world. His strategy wasn’t to focus on his own exploits, but to focus on and inspire theirs. His work helping people push their newfound boundaries led to the merger of Access Unlimited with the High Fives Foundation where he continues to serve as the program director. 

“The thing is to think about, a dude in a wheelchair is touching this soil,” said Alberi in the film. In truth, he didn’t just touch the soil and just feel accomplished. He experienced the trip like any other fun-loving adventurer might. 

“Turns out that bears don’t like Eminem,” he said smiling after being asked how many bears they encountered on the trip. His answer, not a single one. 

“Turns out if you just crank your music real loud and drink Tito’s all day, that’s the best bear insurance there is,” he said through a grin. “We’d pull up on the beaches where we were sleeping and there would be half eaten salmon all over and huge kodiak bear tracks everywhere,” he continued. 

“We split up the tents with the rowers’ tent and the film crew tent and then my buddy Jake Manly and I’s tent was kinda like the jackass tent. They were like ‘put these guys closest to the bear trail, they’re going to up until three in the morning drinking and being loud anyway,’” he quipped. 

While the party and the bears made for fun stories afterwards, the fish were what called Alberi and his crew to Alaska. 

“The thing that keeps people from fishing this spot is it's over a half mile portage from the little puddle that you land in in the float plane to the river,” he explains. “And so you have to portage all of your gear, your rafts, your food, me,” he pauses. Then goes on. “We were only the second group that floated it that year. They say that, like, less than 50 people float or fish it a year.” 

“Most people just land in that puddle and then just go, wade it, and then come back to the plane and fly out in the evening,” Alberi continued before going on to describe the river. 

“It starts with, like 10 feet across, like tiny little water you're catching grayling at the top. As you go down the river you start getting into more fish. They start getting bigger and bigger. You’re catching all different types of salmon. It was a little bit of everything and it was awesome.”

While it is easy to see Alberi as just one of the guys as he talks about the fun and fish, what sets him apart is his honesty about his accident, his situation and how it has changed him that sets him apart. He has the ability to make you believe that he is just like anyone else, but he is not and that is where he is really making an impact. 

“I hope that this isn't just something else that somebody watches and moves on to the next thing,” he said. “I hope that what we've made is gonna make people look at their own life and realize that tomorrow's not a guarantee.”

“My goal for this is to make people look at their own life and search a little bit more,” he continued. 

While he spreads his message through the film and the showings that surround it, Alberi has also received a message about how this all came to be and what is important to him. From his team on the trip, to the film crew to his family and the familiar faces that have come out to see and hear his story he has grown to further understand that there is no way that any of this would be possible on his own. 

“It was so cool sitting up there on the stage and looking out and seeing like my old family doctor and the lady that taught me to play the piano, the lunch ladies from the middle school cafeteria. It was just like the people that care about you, you know, and sitting in that room,” he explained about the first showing in Dillon. 

While Alberi has showcased his ability to build a community and to trust them to help him live his best life while in exchange working to inspire them to live their own, he acknowledges that his most important relationship is with his wife. 

“She's been my rock through this whole thing. And she's incredible,” he explained. “From the morning after the accident when she woke up and I wasn’t there and she started calling around, it's evident in the film that I wouldn't be who I am without her. Thank God for a reason, man, I know that I can't imagine my life without her.”

“Mend” was produced by The Muddy Group in partnership with Access Unlimited and The High Fives Foundation. The April 16 screening in Ennis is being put on by Burnt Tree Brewing and Ability Montana. The event will include a showing of the film and a Q&A with the producers.