Paul Jesson? Yes
Let me guess; first-ever Kiwi to ride the Tour? No, that was Henry George Watson in 1928
Jesson had been approached by the Splendor team in 1979, because they were short on riders for the TdF. He didn't make the time limit on the 12th stage after he had helped his team leader Michel Pollentier after crash. He says he could have made it, if his DS had asked him to ride faster.
During the 1980 Vuelta he became the first Kiwi GT stage winner, when he won stage 10 from Burgos to Santander.
Shortly after, when he was riding the prologue of the Critérium du Dauphiné, he hit a parked Lancia, that wasn't suppsoed to be on the course. Possibly due to him being brought into the hospital during a shift change, his blood circulation wasn't closely followed, and even though the doctors did everything they could afterwards, ultimately the lower half of his left leg had to be amputated. So though he was a pro during both the 70's and 80's, his pro career didn't even last a year.
In the 90's he began competing as a paracyclist, winning two world titles in 1998 (the time trial and thr individual pursuit), and he later picking up a bronze medal in the road race/time trial event at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens. An event he had finished fourth in four years earlier in Sydney.