Spinal cord injuries something we never think about until someone we know or love, are injured. What will we do? Who do we go to for help? How will our lives be changed?
Living with a spinal cord injury does it have to be a bad thing, will I be limited in the things I can do? Last Friday Apr. 23 2010 my neighbor’s son and I were talking about putting in a new front door, on my house, Sunday he was with friend’s horsing around, jumping on the hood of a moving car he was thrown to the ground. Life changed in a instent, for the past 5 days he has laid in a coma, not knowing whether he will be totally ok or what, Talking to his father he made the comment ” I guess he won’t be taking scuba lessons now will he?” I know this isn’t the kind of story people want to hear about, but the timing couldn’t be more appropriate as a HSA certified, Scuba instructor with Al’s Diving in San diego we are holding the Diveheart scuba training with Jim Elliott founder of the organization.
SCI doesn’t mean life has to stop or has to be any less rewarding, those with disabilities such as spinal cord injuries can with a little help from a friend, achieve almost anything a able bodied, person can. Like Carmen Yu and some of her friends
See more about diving with disabilities on my dive blog www.alsdiving.storeblogs.com, and remember you too can make a difference in someones life. Interested?
Despite dire predictions to the contrary, the list of things he cannot do is much shorter than the list of things he can. What he can‟t do is see. What he can and does in fact do includes but is not limited to adventurous under-takings such as scuba diving, surfing, skiing, fishing, kayaking, bicycling and golfing. “I don‟t set limits on myself. If I find something I can‟t do, I try to find a way to do it,” said Rick Olson of South Holland, Illinois.
A veteran of the Vietnam War era, Rick lost his sight without warning in 2003, due to ischemic optic neuropathy. “It‟s like a stroke in the optic nerve,” he said. What vision remains he said, is a little bit of light perception “which to the average person is nothing but to someone with total darkness, means that I have a lot.”
Rick started scuba diving with Diveheart about a year and a half-ago at the encouragement of Jerry Schutter of the Hines VA Blind Center. “He asked if I’d give it a try and let the other vets know what it’s like. I do a lot of things to motivate the vets so I agreed. I just fell in love with it,” Rick said. “It’s just the freedom of being down there, something that I never thought I’d be able to do.” Since he started diving, Rick has gone on trips with Diveheart to the Florida Keys and to Cozumel.
Rick recruited four fellow-veterans for the trip this past winter to Cozumel.
Rick has also recruited his girlfriend Ericka to scuba dive with him. Theirs is a special romance. Rick met Ericka shortly after losing his sight, while attending a special camp in Dixon, Illinois, sponsored by Chicago Lighthouse. Ericka, who lives in Jacksonville, Illinois, is deaf and blind. “She motivated me. I’m only blind,” Rick said. “She taught me sign language, and when I learned enough, I asked her out and she said, ok.” They have been dating ever since. Ericka also traveled on the Diveheart trip to Cozumel. While diving, Jim Elliott and Rick both wore full face masks so they could talk back and forth. Rick held Ericka’s hand and signed to her. “Jim would tell me what he was showing us and I’d sign it to Ericka,” he said. She loved the experience and Rick said that they will plan future dives together as time and finances allow.
So many textures
“One dove all of his life all over the world. He had never gotten his certification and when he started losing his vision he was sure his diving days were over. I told him I scuba dive. I got him involved and now he’s got his certification. It was a dream he thought would never come true,” said Rick.
Rick has also recruited his girlfriend Ericka to scuba dive with him. Theirs is a special romance. Rick met Ericka shortly after losing his sight, while attending a special camp in Dixon, Illinois, sponsored by Chicago Lighthouse. Ericka, who lives in Jacksonville, Illinois, is deaf and blind. “She motivated me. I‟m only blind,” Rick said. “She taught me sign language, and when I learned enough, I asked her out and she said, „ok‟.” They‟ve been dating ever since. Ericka also traveled on the Diveheart trip to Cozumel. While diving, Jim Elliott and Rick both wore full face masks so they could talk back and forth. Rick held Ericka‟s hand and signed to her. “Jim would tell me what he was showing us and I‟d sign it to Ericka,” he said. She loved the experience and Rick said that they will plan future dives together as time and finances allow.
Scuba diving with Diveheart has “given me and the other challenged individuals a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his/her disabilities. Jim Elliott and his volunteers, with their compassion for scuba diving, have helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world,” said Rick.
Rick‟s a busy man even when he‟s not under water. He is the president of the Hines VA Blind Center Alumni, secretary of Illinois Regional Group of the Blinded Veterans Association, and a volunteer three days weekly at two area VA hospitals. He also participates in the VA National Games.
Rick said that he is only able to do all that he accomplishes because of the presence of another important lady in his life, his guide dog Verna. “If it was not for Verna I would not be the person that I am. She and I have been a great team and companions through the many different things we do. The only thing she lets me do by myself is scuba dive and then she lies like a lady and waits for me to return to the surface. Getting her was the best thing I have done after losing my vision,” Rick said.
Rick advises others that there is in fact life after blindness. “I feel blessed. When I lost my vision I was able to retire early. I‟m blessed to be able to do all the things I‟m doing and to motivate other people to do these things,” he said “I‟ve always said the sky‟s the limit. That‟s next. I‟m looking for someone to go sky diving with,” Rick said.
Diving off the Great Escape is a great dive, Capt. Tim know’s how to show divers a good time, go down the night before hang out on the boat get a good night sleep wake up to the sound of engines running and the smell of fresh coffee. What a way to spend the day
Long Beach, California — Cody Unser was told at the age of 12 that she would never walk again. Years later, Cody said she would never have a boyfriend, in part because of the limitations imposed by her paralysis. And, due to the difficulties her parents encountered with their lives in racing, problems which eventually led Al and Shelley to divorce, Cody was really, really sure she wanted nothing at all to do with racing. Never, ever again.
One thing that Cody Unser knows today is that no one should ever say never to her again. At the age of 20, she has a happy, healthy relationship with her boyfriend of two years, while at the same time embracing her role as “a woman in a chair.” When all is said and done, she is far more a woman, period, than a woman in a chair, but that is clearly a part of who she is. The boyfriend is, of course, part of the world of racing, but Unser acknowledges that “racing is a part of me,” and so it’s really not so strange that her man is part of the racing world, too.
Few young people have such a strong heritage in auto racing. Cody is the granddaughter of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser, Sr., and grand niece of racer Bobby Unser. And, few drivers have been as successful in Champ Car as her father, Al Unser, Jr. Perhaps no driver is as much associated with the Long Beach Grand Prix as the “Emperor of the Beach.” But after the crowds went home, Al Jr. had to deal with many family tragedies, including the breakup of his marriage, and eventually sought treatment for his alcoholism. Cody’s father is racing again, and he remains an enthusiastic supporter of his daughter. Cody and brother Al’s obvious integrity are certainly a reflection of the love both parents have for their children.
It is Cody’s mother, Shelley Unser, who has been so instrumental in helping her daughter deal with her condition and it was Shelley who helped Cody start her foundation, Cody Unser’s First Step Foundation. When Cody became ill in February 1999, her father was preparing to race in the IROC at the Daytona 500. He was replaced in that race by Bobby Labonte, who donated his IROC earnings from that race to start CUFSF. Eight years later, the Foundation is the centerpiece in Cody Unser’s life, and what a life it has become.
When we first speak, Cody is busy with papers and finals for the sophomore year at the University of Redlands in the coming week, because the Foundation is presenting a major symposium at the University of New Mexico’s School of Medicine. Unser is able to focus on running her foundation while carrying a full time class load because she is enrolled in Redland’s innovative Johnston Center for Integrative Studies. At the Johnston Center, students design their own majors and write contracts for their course work. Because of this, some of Cody’s coursework has dealt with a subject that is now very close to her heart, namely, stem cell research.
For many years, actor Christopher Reeve was the most prominent proponent of stem cell research in the United States. Unser was able to meet Chris Reeve and learned at his side the intricacies of fund raising and advocacy for the paralyzed. Most scientists searching for a cure are convinced that the chances of Cody’s and others being able to walk again depend directly upon the advancement of stem cell research. Reeve was able to get federal funding dramatically increased during his lifetime. With his death in 2004 and his wife Dana’s passing in 2006, Cody Unser is now stem cell research’s most visible face as she races for a cure.
Unlike other major foundations, CUFSF has no big board of directors charged with fund raising and accumulating press clippings. As she says, “it’s a crazy wild ride,” and she and Shelley have had to learn as they go. It’s an approach that has its own particular set of advantages. For example, when it came time for Cody to drive, she discovered that there weren’t a lot of programs that taught how to operate hand controls. As she continues her quest to “redefine normal,” of course Cody wanted to have a much cooler set of wheels than the expected “handicapped van”… Today, she drives an Audi A3 which allows her to lift her chair. But, when she began driving several years ago, she discovered that even finding hand controls she could use in modifying her vehicle of choice were difficult.
Fortunately for Cody, her brother Al (“Just Al” or Al III) went online and found her first hand controls which allowed her to avoid the dreaded handicapped van. It seemed a simple solution for her driving was always going to be a hassle until she met Daniel Reyes, President of RediAuto Sport, whose company markets Soft Touch hand controls in the US. While widely used in Europe and endorsed by former Champ Car driver Alex Zanardi, who lost his legs in a horrific racing accident in 2001, Soft Touch is relatively new here. Cody explained to me that it works with an accelerator ring behind the steering wheel. In the week before Long Beach, Cody raced at Irwindale Speedway in the Redi Auto Track Challenge 2007 and of course loved every minute of the experience. Reyes drove a specially equipped pace car as part of the Long Beach Grand Prix, so we hope we don’t have to wait too much longer to see Cody Unser take her own first laps at the Beach.
Whether it’s being able to race or being able to live independently, it is clear that Cody Unser is well on her way to her goals. As I frequently said at the height of her father’s career, it’s never (there’s that word again) a good idea to count Al out, no matter what happens. Well, I think it’s also never a good idea to count his daughter Cody out, either. She has enough energy and determination for 10 people, and she is mature enough, even at a relatively young age, to realize that while her paralysis is unfortunate, there have been benefits even so. She’s been able to see the world, meet Christopher Reeve, and accomplish more than any other 20 year old that I know. Moreover, it’s made her the woman she is today.
So, remember, never say never to Cody Unser. She said she’d never have a boyfriend, but I am quite sure a certain gentleman is very grateful that’s no longer true. Cody said she’d never be involved in racing, but there she was, just last week, out on a race track. Driving fast with her legendary “lead hand” and trying to be faster than everyone else. I think that’s called racing, and if there’s one thing this country loves, it’s an Unser racing. And the doctors who told her that she’s never going to walk again? Well, my money along with my prayers is with Cody Unser. I’m just betting that if anyone can, she will.
Thailand Dive & Golf Expo 2010 The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in cooperation with the N.C.C. Exhibition Organizer Co. Ltd.(NEO) is organizing a great travel fair
“Thailand Dive & Golf Expo 2010” during 20 – 23, May 2010 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. Keen golfers and all those
fascinated by the underwater world are invited to look for tourism goods and services at very attractive prices, from hotels with golf courses,
brand-name golf equipment, seaside resorts, diving trip packages, to latest diving equipment. The event is held alongside the “Wonderful
Thailand 2010” to create a full-cycle travel fair, with all types of tour programs to choose from at your leisure.
This spectacular travel fair comprises 3 major parts, Part 1 – For Scuba Divers and Adventure Tourists, presenting full-cycle goods and services,
such as resorts, diving courses, diving equipment, diving trips, live-aboard boats, kayaks, equipment for trekking, rock climbing, archery, and
cameras, Part 2 – For Golf Lovers, with the most attractive packages, from accommodations with golf courses nationwide, a wide array of
brand-name golf equipment at special prices, and challenging activities such as “One Putt, One Hundred Thousand Baht”, “The Longest Drive
with Simulator” and “Putting Contest on 18-Hole Indoor Artificial Greens” for the first time in Thailand, and Part 3 – For Those Keen on Limitless
Travels, where you can choose destinations that suit your lifestyle in Wonderful Thailand and Wonderful Two Seacoasts, with tour packages
from fanciful resorts by the sea or on the hills, pleasure cruisers, eco-tours, and numerous interesting packages.
Get ready to shop around for attractive tour packages and choose to enjoy diverse tourism activities in the styles that suit you at the “Thailand
Dive & Golf Expo 2010″ and “Wonderful Thailand 2010” during 20 – 23, May 2010, 11.00-21.00 hours at the Queen Sirikit National Convention
Center, Bangkok, Thailand.
New sculptures added to Cancun’s underwater museum
by Staff Writers From: news.com.au February 25, 2010 11
THE Cancun and Isla Mujeres Underwater Art Museum is a step closer to becoming the world’s largest underwater museum by adding three new sculptures.
The sculptures – Dream Collector, Man on Fire and The Gardener of Hope – were carefully submerged to a variety of different depths throughout the national park.
Created by British/Guyanese artist Jason de Caires Taylor, the sculptures were placed near natural reefs and marine life in order to create an artificial habitat.
Dream Collector features dozens of bottles containing messages of encouragement sent from around the world, while Man on Fire has 75 holes planted with fire coral.
One of the messages reads: “May our hearts, never become as hard as our heads,” by Roberto Diaz, President of the Cancun Underwater Museum.
The Gardener of Hope depicts a young girl lying on a garden patio.
The sculptures have been created with PH neutral concrete that will allow algae and small invertebrates to flourish, boosting the local ecosystem. The appearance of the sculptures will change over time as the coral reefs and marine life grow.
Nearly 300,000 tourists flock to the area each year and it is hoped that the underwater museum will lure them away from the area’s natural coral reefs – which has been damaged over the years.
Jaime Gonzalez, the national park’s director, says the museum will help restore the natural reefs.
“The underwater museum will draw many tourists, allowing us to give a rest to the natural reefs. It’s like a restoration process.”
The museum plans to install more than 400 concrete sculptures off the coast of Mexico from artists around the world.
Each individual work of art will be life-sized and will consist of themed galleries such as “The Quiet Evolution.”
The museum opened in November 2009 with only three human-sized sculptures.
Mr Gonzalez said there should be nearly 250 sculptures in the underwater museum by April 2010.
The class is the best we loved our class, and our three friends were the best. They loved diving. The Diveheart Foundation, trains scuba divers to teach those, divers that may have challenges that they will not control their lives. they are, incredible and as this picture shows they don’t like to give up on things that make them happy.
Scuba diving is for everyone
Believe me when they left us last Saturday they were very happy, wanting to come back and do this again and again, They also want to go to Cancun on the next trip and become Certified to dive with a buddy, So that’s what we were doing there with them is becoming certified to teach others with challenges. San Diego is Our next Event, Hope that a lot of people read this post. we could sure use you there.
Yes, I know, Cozumel must have already been reviewed several times since you took up scuba diving, but the fact remains, that it is still one of the Caribbean’s top destinations for diving enthusiasts from all ove the world—from the novice to the very knowledgeable — and now it’s safe again to go there, as Mexico has been cleared off the CDC’s travel warning list for swine flu. It’s time once again to enjoy the treats of this enchanting tropical paradise.
Published in X-Ray Issue: 35 – Apr 2010
Authored by: Mathias Corvalho | Photography: Mathias Corvalho, Erick Cruz and Scott Johnson | Translation: Gunild Symes
Cozumel combines the great reefs that one might find at the best dive spots around the warm Mexican Gulf waters with the laid back island life, where everything is close enough with a short taxi ride or a pleasurable bicycle tour. Indeed, the island has few routes, and a great set of beaches and coves. Almost every place offers gentle waves lapping warm sands. And there is always a beach bar or “tienda” around where you can get great refreshments at very low prices—an “honest-to-God” diving paradise, but then, you already knew that!
What can we say? Good ol’ Jacques Cousteau baptized Cozumel as ze most beautiful diving spot in the world, back in the 60s. Who are we to discredit the old master?
Since the French sanction of Cozumel as a divers’ paradise on Earth—and just to make sure it sticks—the Mexican authorities established a huge marine park for the preservation of local flora and fauna as well as the means of income, based on sports tourism, that is the lifeline of the island.
Palancar Reef
There are many areas for scuba enthusiasts to choose from, but a great start is the internationally renowned Palancar Reefs located between the Playa del Carmen coastline and the western side of the island. This sheltered section has the clearest water. The best spots are a mere 20-30 minutes ride away, depending on where you start from.
El Arrecife Palancar (Palancar Reef), stretching for many kilometers on the western side of the island, is where divers can find amazing coral formations and a ‘horseshoe’ of coral heads, making for some of the world’s finest underwater scenery with a stunning 70m (230ft) visibility range.
A haven for underwater photographers, Palancar is populated by many sea turtles (as large as they come), groupers, nurse sharks and the elusive “Palancar Catfish” —a crazy sight, if you can spot it hiding under the coral. Depths range between an easy 12 meters (40ft) at the north end, called Palancar Gardens, to more than 24 meters deep (80 ft), providing pros opportunities for fantastic deep-water diving.
There are some opportunities for great cavern diving, such as Devil’s throat at 42 meters (139 ft) down at the south end called Punta Sur. See the video of it on YouTube : . There are enough brightly colored fish and anemone to fulfill any underwater photographer’s dreams.
Palancar Reef is as popular among divers as it can be, therefore its much-lauded coral formations are in constant peril. Visitors must purchase a wrist band pass and acknowledge the marine park regulations—one of them being the mandatory use of bio-degradable sunscreen lotion.
Many well-known brands offer such products, and it is in your best interest to get a few bottles at home, as prices on the island tend to be a trifle steep, and stocks aren’t always plentiful. Boat rides to the diving spots on the reef are under a mile away from the shore (over one kilometer), so the best choice is to sign up for a day cruise or charter a boat from a local tour agency.
Sea life
Cozumel has so much underwater wild life that it is hard to mention every one of them, so I selected three I liked best—sites I think you will want to keep a lookout for and snap a few great shots of to show the folks back home. The variety of fish and other wondrous animals, apparently more than 250 species to choose from, might not be too apparent at first, but the more you dive, the better it gets!
Sea turtles
Here’s one marine animal you can count on having a “téte-a-téte” with. Cozumel is full of them, some of which are quite large specimens, idly searching for their next meal and will cruise by you at a leisurely speed, not minding much to what’s going on around them. And that is the great thing about these cute turtles— you really feel like a spectator of nature’s great drama when you are with them. But fight the urge to piggyback a lift on one of them. They look sheepish, but have great beaks that can snap a coconut to pieces, let alone your pinkies. Besides the danger of injury to oneself, there is also the risk of injury to the animal. The first rule of the responsible diver is to look only, don’t touch—leave the wildlife alone. and don’t harass the critters.
Sea turtles have been around forever and consider Palancar their own backyard. Hence, they are one of the main protected species in the area. They have a sanctuary on the south end, where nests are kept under surveillance and have their own protection program.
If you want to witness the miracle of baby sea turtles hatching and dashing off to sea, just contact the Turtle Salvation Program at the Cozumel Volunteer Connection office, located at 602-B (upstairs) Raphael Melgar Avenue right next door to the Naval Base. The program’s director, Rodrigo Navarro, along with several committee members and dedicated volunteers, are doing whatever they can to keep the Turtle Salvation Program going with what little funding is available. If you are feeling grand, you can help, too. Just check out the information at www.cozumelinsider.com/TURTLESEE and make your donation.
Barracudas
Nasty looking, long fairly compressed, elongated bodies covered with small, smooth scales led by large mouths with fang-like teeth… Sounds scary? Like sharks, barracudas have a bad, although undeserved, reputation. Rare and unproven reports of unprovoked attacks are known, however, the fish are sea scavengers and will respond to shiny objects. So, if you are sporting a bellybutton ring, it pays not to dangle it in front of these lighting fast beasts.
Cozumel Catfish
Cozumel Catfish (a.k.a. toadfish) are Cozumel’s endemic catfish and a sight to be seen. Bearded, freaky-looking, striped like a yellow bug-eyed zebra, the catfish favors holing up, safe and cozy under a coral, waiting on unsuspecting fish to be scooped in to its larger-than-life gaping mouth (hence the toad reference) as the next meal. It can move very fast when attacking, and you rarely see it outside its lair. Cozumel has this unique species as their local attraction, and you’ll be glad
Download the article to read the full story ► Cozumel
Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don’t. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy; they just promised it would be worth it
It’s video like this that makes you want to be apart of the big picture it draws people closer to the Earth Closer to God. (as you may see him or her being politically correct) I love diving and respect the Ocean. I hope all that see this and those that dive San Diego and the world, stand at the shores and thank thanks to the power that gave us our earth and where we live
Spinal cord injuries something we never think about until someone we know or love, are injured. What will we do? Who do we go to for help? How will our lives be changed?
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Pictures: Underwater art
