Disabled Coloradans Go On Special Scuba Trip

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=65 BGCOLOR="#666699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04e00840erlcjm.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Disabled Coloradans Go On Special Scuba Trip</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mark Felling.com Dont let life pass you"><B>home</B></A></div> <div> back to<B>  </B><A HREF="quadrec.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Recreation for Quads"><B>Recreation for Quads</B></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=150 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04811c00egdysm.png"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="martinconquest.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Martin Conquest: Wheelchair Motorcycle">Martin Conquest: Wheelchair Motorcycle</A></div> <div> <B>Disabled Coloradans Go On Special Scuba Trip</B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=415 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="5" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="816" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 82 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="http://www.broadenedhorizons.com" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.broadenedhorizons.com"><B><IMG SRC="961dd4b0.png" border=0 width="221" height="75" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="94"><div> <A HREF="http://www.BroadenedHorizons.com" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.BroadenedHorizons.com"><B>"Innovative Solutions for the Mobility Impaired"</B></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="467"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="82" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="467" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> Disabled Coloradans Go On Special Scuba Trip<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.cbs4denver.com/video/?id=13313@kcnc.dayport.com " TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://www.cbs4denver.com/video/?id=1331"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Disabled Coloradoans Go On Special Scuba Trip</A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.cbs4denver.com/video/?id=13374@kcnc.dayport.com " TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://www.cbs4denver.com/video/?id=1337"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Scuba Trip For Quadriplegics More Than Just About Diving</A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.cbs4denver.com/video/?id=13402@kcnc.dayport.com " TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://www.cbs4denver.com/video/?id=1340"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Scuba Trip Came At Time One Man Will Never Forget</A></div> <bR> <div> Jodi Brooks Reporting  </div> <div> Feb 2, 2006 8:20 pm US/Mountain</div> <div> <I> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="5" WIDTH="187" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 137 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="94baf830.jpg" border=0 width="175" height="131" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 72 WIDTH="173"><div> Judy Huston shows her PADI certification <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >(underwater photography by CBS4's Dale Atchison)</FONT></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 137 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="94caf830.jpg" border=0 width="175" height="131" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="173"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="173" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 137 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="94daf830.jpg" border=0 width="175" height="131" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 38 WIDTH="173"><div> Dave Ferrall on Bloody Bay wall</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></I></div> <div> <I>(CBS4) ENGLEWOOD, Colo.</I> A group of disabled people from Colorado recently traveled to a place where their motion isn't restricted ... the undersea waters of the Caribbean.</div> <div> The scuba diving trip was specifically designed for quadriplegics and paraplegics. The five participants, all Craig Hospital patients, said the trip to the Cayman Islands turned out to be more than just scuba diving. For each person the trip helped bring about self discovery.</div> <div> A-1 Scuba & Travel in Englewood partnered with Craig Hospital 20 years ago in its effort to help spinal cord-injured patients experience the freedom of being under water. With this recent trip, their disabled dive program has reached new heights.</div> <div> "I want people with disabilities to know that there's another activity that they can participate in," Scott Taylor, A-1 co-owner, told CBS4.</div> <div> Taylor and Craig Hospital Therapeutic Recreation Specialist Carol Huserik led the group on their journey to the quaint island of Cayman Brac, a sister island to Grand Cayman and a favorite spot for scuba divers around the world.</div> <div> The trip was challenging to set up in part because there are only a handful of handicapped-accessible resorts in the Caribbean. Taylor and Huserik were able to make reservations at Divi Tiara, which had the ramps for the rooms.</div> <div> <B>The Participants</B></div> <div> Two of the divers on the trip were Scott Webster, 35, and Judy Huston, 64. During their underwater experiences they both got certified by PADI, the international scuba certification and safety organization. PADI stands for Professional Association of Diving Instructors.</div> <div> Each dove with a buddy and had to go through a series of tests, including removing their masks underwater and then putting it back on.</div> <div> "I'm so thrilled to have done it, and to have gotten certified ... to find out that 'I can do this -- hey, I can do this,'" Huston said.</div> <div> "Whether you're in a wheelchair or not, you don't know what you can do unless you just try it," Webster said.</div> <div> Also on the trip was Tom Isaac, 57, a quadriplegic who is paralyzed from the neck down. Isaac broke his neck while body surfing in Cancun, and hadn't been back into the ocean for nearly 24 years.</div> <div> Despite the fears of his family and his doctor back in Colorado, he became certified through the International Association for Handicapped Divers on the trip.</div> <div> CBS4 filmed him when he was underwater in the Caymans and showed how he was able to communicate with two buddies who swam around with him under water.</div> <div> "I can raise my right arm a little bit, and I'd point to my nose, I'd point to my face mask, point to my ears," Isaac said.</div> <div> During his dives Isaac said his own fears disappeared. When he got to see a wreck, Isaac said it reminded him of his childhood.</div> <div> "When I was a child, at 10, 12, I used to watch Jacques Cousteau shows on TV and dream about diving and going down to wrecks," Isaac said.</div> <div> Dave Farrell, 35, and Dave Hosick, 40, were already certified, but said they were thrilled to be with other disabled divers and seeing undersea marvels like lobsters, sea turtles and two tamed groupers that the divers could pet.</div> <div> The trip came one year after Farrell's injury. Farrell injured himself while skiing in Aspen, Colo."</div> <div> It gives me the joy that I got out of the other things I did," Farrell said. "I get back to the same kind of happiness I had before."</div> <div> "I want to go further now ... I want to go deeper now; I want to do some more technical diving," Hosick said.</div> <div> <B>Never Giving Up</B></div> <div> Twenty three years ago Taylor submitted an article to a scuba magazine about wanting to get disabled people scuba diving. The publication refused to publish it, saying the dive industry just wasn't ready for the idea.</div> <div> Taylor said he never stopped believing, and now he plans to do more similar trips with Huserik.</div> <div> "For as long as I've been doing this I still get choked up because it is just so moving," Huserik said.</div> <div> Isaac said this trip reminded him that "anything is possible."</div> <div> "The only limits we have are the limits we put on ourselves," Isaac said. "Somebody who's disabled can do anything they can put their minds to."</div> <div> from <A HREF="http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/local_story_033184209.html" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://cbs4denver.com/topstories/local_s">CBS4Denver.com</A> © MMVI CBS Television Stations, Inc. </div> <div> Related Links </div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.a1scuba.com/" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://www.a1scuba.com/"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A1 Scuba & Travel Center</U></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.a1scuba.com/" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://www.a1scuba.com/"> </A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.diviresorts.com" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://www.diviresorts.com"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Divi Caribbean Resorts</U></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.diviresorts.com" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://www.diviresorts.com"> </A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.padi.com/" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://www.padi.com/"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI)</U></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.padi.com/" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://www.padi.com/"> </A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.iahd.org/" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://www.iahd.org/"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f0ff000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">International Association for Handicapped Divers</U></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.iahd.org/" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://www.iahd.org/"> </A></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>