Post by David Feder on Jan 20, 2007 11:08:29 GMT -5
Muscular Dystrophy slows, but doesn't stop, Matt Johnson
Matt Johnston was looking at e-mail messages he'd received since Thursday's network showing of his first dive.
One came from an alcoholic who said he was inspired to check himself into treatment after he saw the Today Show story about Matt's successful dive.
Another writer said she was inspired to attempt the dreams her daughter talked about. The daughter was born with Cerebral Palsy and has never crawled or walked.
Matt Johnston, who lives with duchenne Muscular Dystrophy can not walk or breathe for himself.
Two months ago, though, he went diving off Key West, Florida.
"Diving is what I always wanted," he said.
Indeed, home video shows Matt mesmerized by the huge waves of the Pacific Ocean surf as they pounded a San Diego, California beach. The video shows him turning and walking toward the camera showing the distinct gait of early Muscular Dystrophy.
Matt was diagnosed with MD when he was five. He needed a wheelchair by his seventh year. When he turned 17, he could no longer breathe on his own.
When he lost his ability to breathe on his own, he began to forget about diving.
But he never completely forgot.
He can move his thumbs, so folks at Courage Center have rigged a computer so he can use it with his thumbs.
With dad, Charlee's assistance, Matt began to frequent diving chat boards. He got so he moderated one board himself.
He talked about diving with his doctors. His doctors suggested he pursue his dream.
Three years ago, he got serious and rallied divers and instructors to his cause.
One diver owns a dry suit manufacturing company. She helped him design a suit which would accommodate his tracheotomy, the opening in his trachea through which the ventilator lets him breathe.
Makers of other diving equipment pitched in.
"Your first instinct," said Matt's dive instructor Drew Gerling, "is, 'This is going to be very, very difficult if not impossible to achieve.'"
Matt Johnston sees it a little differently.
"A lot of divers are impressed with somebody that can't walk or breathe on his own, but he wants to dive," he said.
"Everybody's wild about that," he said.
They tried their system in the swimming pool at Courage Center's Stillwater location.
They progressed to Wazee Lake near Black River Falls, Wisconsin.
Then in November, Matt Johnston and his entourage met in Key West for his ocean dive.
Matt was nervous because of the ocean... and because so many people had worked with him... showed faith in his commitment and perseverance of a dream.
The nervousness turned to panic when, on the first dive, a breathing hose fitting cracked and he couldn't breathe under water.
"I kinda panicked, there," Matt admitted.
After four tries that first day, dad Charlee Dollens saw Matt was exhausted, and pulled the plug.
They'd have to try a second day.
"I had to do it," said Matt Johnston.
"I wanted to do it for Jerry. He'd want me to finish it."
Matt was talking about his friend Jerry Soren who helped design his dry suit and who began working on a ventilator/rebreather which would let Matt dive without hoses leading to the surface.
Jerry Soren had died in a diving accident.
The second day, the panic was gone. Matt submerged successfully for one minute... two minutes... three minutes. "It's just amazing," he said, "seeing all those little fish and coral and seeing a barracuda looking at me." "That was pretty impressive!"
Matt Johnston stayed four feet below the surface for 15 minutes.
He was grateful. He was fulfilled. He wanted to do it again.
"I'm working on a doing a dive at the Mall of America... Underwater Adventures," he said.
"I wanna get used to being around sharks because in my big dive, I wanna go to San Diego and do the cage dive with the big Great White [sharks]. That's what I really want," he said.
When asked if there's something he learned from his first ocean dive, Matt Johnston said, "Whatever you're going through in life, don't give up because there's always something good in life, always something to make life worth while."
www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=148284
(with video)
Matt Johnston was looking at e-mail messages he'd received since Thursday's network showing of his first dive.
One came from an alcoholic who said he was inspired to check himself into treatment after he saw the Today Show story about Matt's successful dive.
Another writer said she was inspired to attempt the dreams her daughter talked about. The daughter was born with Cerebral Palsy and has never crawled or walked.
Matt Johnston, who lives with duchenne Muscular Dystrophy can not walk or breathe for himself.
Two months ago, though, he went diving off Key West, Florida.
"Diving is what I always wanted," he said.
Indeed, home video shows Matt mesmerized by the huge waves of the Pacific Ocean surf as they pounded a San Diego, California beach. The video shows him turning and walking toward the camera showing the distinct gait of early Muscular Dystrophy.
Matt was diagnosed with MD when he was five. He needed a wheelchair by his seventh year. When he turned 17, he could no longer breathe on his own.
When he lost his ability to breathe on his own, he began to forget about diving.
But he never completely forgot.
He can move his thumbs, so folks at Courage Center have rigged a computer so he can use it with his thumbs.
With dad, Charlee's assistance, Matt began to frequent diving chat boards. He got so he moderated one board himself.
He talked about diving with his doctors. His doctors suggested he pursue his dream.
Three years ago, he got serious and rallied divers and instructors to his cause.
One diver owns a dry suit manufacturing company. She helped him design a suit which would accommodate his tracheotomy, the opening in his trachea through which the ventilator lets him breathe.
Makers of other diving equipment pitched in.
"Your first instinct," said Matt's dive instructor Drew Gerling, "is, 'This is going to be very, very difficult if not impossible to achieve.'"
Matt Johnston sees it a little differently.
"A lot of divers are impressed with somebody that can't walk or breathe on his own, but he wants to dive," he said.
"Everybody's wild about that," he said.
They tried their system in the swimming pool at Courage Center's Stillwater location.
They progressed to Wazee Lake near Black River Falls, Wisconsin.
Then in November, Matt Johnston and his entourage met in Key West for his ocean dive.
Matt was nervous because of the ocean... and because so many people had worked with him... showed faith in his commitment and perseverance of a dream.
The nervousness turned to panic when, on the first dive, a breathing hose fitting cracked and he couldn't breathe under water.
"I kinda panicked, there," Matt admitted.
After four tries that first day, dad Charlee Dollens saw Matt was exhausted, and pulled the plug.
They'd have to try a second day.
"I had to do it," said Matt Johnston.
"I wanted to do it for Jerry. He'd want me to finish it."
Matt was talking about his friend Jerry Soren who helped design his dry suit and who began working on a ventilator/rebreather which would let Matt dive without hoses leading to the surface.
Jerry Soren had died in a diving accident.
The second day, the panic was gone. Matt submerged successfully for one minute... two minutes... three minutes. "It's just amazing," he said, "seeing all those little fish and coral and seeing a barracuda looking at me." "That was pretty impressive!"
Matt Johnston stayed four feet below the surface for 15 minutes.
He was grateful. He was fulfilled. He wanted to do it again.
"I'm working on a doing a dive at the Mall of America... Underwater Adventures," he said.
"I wanna get used to being around sharks because in my big dive, I wanna go to San Diego and do the cage dive with the big Great White [sharks]. That's what I really want," he said.
When asked if there's something he learned from his first ocean dive, Matt Johnston said, "Whatever you're going through in life, don't give up because there's always something good in life, always something to make life worth while."
www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=148284
(with video)