Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
I had the pleasure of diving with Dr. Dan Manion and his SO Sue in March
when he was practicing for his scheduled attempt in April to break the
world depth record for compressed air scuba dive. It was mere coincidence
that we stayed/dove at the same hotel/boat for several days. His practice
dive to 525' that week was later accepted as the official World Record.
In July, after I had already booked a week of diving at DIVE DIVE DIVE (in
Providence Island, Bahamas) between two other dive trips, I learned from
Anne (who does the booking for DDD and was there in March) that Dan and Sue
were going to be there the identical seven days! A second incredible
coincidence! We did about 20 or so dives together, half of them "deep"
(read 350 - 485 fsw for Dr. Dan; 250 - 350 fsw for Sue; and 175 - 199 fsw
for me ... to keep from breaking the range of ALL my computers ;). Sue
broke the women's world record (by going 371 ffw) during that week.
Thus, it was with great shock when I read (from Jen who dove with us for
a couple of days in July) that "I spoke to Sue yesterday ... He <Dan> is
walking on his own and looks like he will make a complete recovery") and
realized that somehow I missed the report of his accident when it
occurred. It turned out Anne tried several times to call and inform me
but my phone was busy (not unusual as I am connected to the computer on it
hours at a time).
So, here's the latest news sketch about Dr. Dan. Dan was diving at DDD
about two weeks ago. He did a TRIMIX dive one morning, and chose to cut
the 24 hr. surface interval short by doing a "shallow" (for him) air
dive (bounce) to 294 fsw that afternoon. He knew he had a DCI hit as soon
as he surfaced from that dive ... was air-lifted to the Mercy Hospital
(chamber) in Miami, and has been undergoing treatment there ever since.
He apparently suffered a Type II (spinal) hit, but improved immediately
after the first of many Table 6A chamber treatments ... has been on
wheelchair since ... and now undergoing rehab treatments.
The GOOD news is that he'll be returning home tomorrow, and it appears that
he may have a complete recovery from the hit. The BAD news is of course
that he may not be able to dive again -- the usual consequence of a Type II
(and sometimes even a much less severe Type I) DCI hit.
I spoke to Anne just now. Haven't talked to Dan yet, but I plan to this
evening (he is probably undergoing rehab now). However, I would like to
pass on the info below so that anyone of you reading this may wish to
give your fellow tech diver some much need moral support by calling him
or sending him a well-wish card.
For TODAY (10/5/94) ONLY: He is staying at Room 4119 of Mercy Hospital
in Miami -- (305) 854-4400.
After TODAY, send card(s) to: Dr. Dan Manion
8675 W. 109 St.
Overland Park, KS 66210
I had taken some UW photos of Dan with my PhD (Push here Dummy) MX-10 in
his dive gears toting a Nitrox tank and oxygen pony (for his 11-minute
deco stops (TOTAL time) -- using Sheck's unpublished tables -- for his
bounce dives down to 485 fsw. Jeff Kell (who is a regular techdiver
subscriber, I believe, while I am not) has already digitized some of those
pix as .JPG and can be obtained via anonymous FTP in his /pub/scuba
directory at
opus.admin.utc.edu
Jeff may have announced it already. I know he had seven of them done ...
available there now, but am still waiting for him to finish the rest and
return my originals. The quality of his digitized pix depends on your
viewing software and hardware -- they look better than my originals when
viewed on my 17" monitor.
Dive Safely,
-- Bob. RFLNG@cl*.ed*
Navigate by Author:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Subject Search Index]
[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]
[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]