bubba105
Contributor
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/0909_diver.shtml
EXCLUSIVE: Mark's been paralysed for 5 years, but swim
put him back on feet
I GOT OUT OF WHEELCHAIR
AFTER MIRACLE DIVE
CRIPPLED with spina bifida, paralysed from the waist down, Mark Chenoweth was resigned to his fate ...never to walk again.
Yet even from his wheelchair he dreamed of learning to scuba diveto move free and weightless as the water supported his useless legs.
No doctor on earth could have predicted how that dream would change his life.
Because on a holiday to the Med, Mark, 45, took his first proper scuba lesson...and emerged from the water able to walk again. He was back on his feet for three daysuntil the disability again robbed him of his limbs.
So he strapped on his aqualung and went back under water. And he has discovered that the deeper he dives, the longer he can walk when he gets out.
Mark's recovery is so astonishing he has used his wheelchair just twice in the last 12 months. He even goes abseiling and windsurfing.
His wife Denise, a nurse, recalled the moment she saw her husband stand up.
Bubbles
"I couldn't believe it," she said. "Mark had gone out to the dive centre in his wheelchair, and now here he was arriving back not in his wheelchair, but pushing it in front of him instead.
"When I woke up the next morning I thought I must have dreamed it all. Then Mark got out of bed and walked into the bathroom to have a shower. It was wonderful to watch him."
Spina bifida, a condition affecting the spine, hits sufferers from birth. At 12, Mark could not move unaided. By the age of 34, increasing nerve damage meant he was unable to walk at all.
Trained as an accountant, he had to give up work. He could not drive and needed help dressing and washing.
It was nine years ago that he persuaded a doctor to give him the medical clearance to allow a dive centre to teach him to swim underwater.
It wasn't easy because there are risks. The deeper you dive, the more the water pressure affects your bloodstream.
Mark explained: "The doctor told me it could be dangerous. He said if I went below 18 metres it could kill me as I wouldn't be able to feel any nitrogen bubbles building up in my legs because they were numb. That could lead to me having a heart attack. But I was so desperate to learn to dive."
A few months later he and Denise headed to Menorca and Mark signed up for a local dive course. The date is seared in his memory. October 2, 1998.
He had to be lifted out of his wheelchair, balanced on the side of the boat and then helped into the sea.
After diving to 17 metres below the surface, Mark was brought to the boat.
As the instructors pulled him on board, he felt a bizarre sensation surging through his limbs. Shakily, he stood uptotally unaided for the first time since he was 12.
"I came out and I could feel my legs like I'd never felt them before," Mark added. "They were actually working.
"The instructor couldn't believe it. He'd seen me arrive in my wheelchair, and now I didn't need it. I just stood up in the boat and shouted, Look at this'." Denise, 45, chipped in: "The next day we walked into the hotel restaurant for breakfast. The staff couldn't believe what they were seeing.
"The previous morning we'd wheeled him in. Now here we were, just walking in like a normal couple.
"Still, Mark was nervous and wobbly as he hadn't walked for such a long time. It was so strange for him to look down and see his feet working." Holiday
She added: "We were scared that whatever had happened would stop, so we didn't make any great plans for the future. But whatever miracle this was, it had been after the diving, so we decided if it did stop we'd book our next holiday so Mark could dive."
Three days later, the effects wore off.
"It happened quite quickly," said Denise. "The feeling in his legs went away and soon he was back in his wheelchair.
"We were all devastated. But even though he couldn't walk again, it really boosted Mark. At least he had some hope that he'd walk again." They didn't have long to wait. The couple, who live in Leek, Staffs, headed for the waters of South Africa. Once more, after diving he could walk for another few days. Mark recalled: "Over the next few years I experimented and found the deeper I dived, the longer I could walk afterwards.
"Crucially, I had to go to below 17 metres. Anything less and there's no discernible effect.
"It was lucky that I didn't just go down to 16 metres on my first dive, or else I'd never have found out. Now I dive to deeper depths because it means I can walk for longer.
"I've found if I dive to 50 metres I can walk for about eight months."At the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, where Mark has been treated over the last decade, doctors are baffled as are colleagues woldwide.
Their only theory is that divers take in a richer mix of oxygen from their aqualungs than at ground level. That extra oxygen in Mark's bloodstream might be having a temporary effect on the nerve cells.
"My case could have far-reaching implications," Mark added. "If only someone knew WHY it happened."
News of the World doctor Hilary Jones agreed: "This really is a one in a million story. I've never heard anything like it before."
Whatever the reason, Mark and Denise are thanking their lucky stars. "He's so much stronger and happier," said Denise. "It's great to have a normal husband-and-wife relationship too. For years I've been Mark's carer and he's been the patientnow it's like we're a proper couple again. I've even been able to go back to work as a nurse.
"He's much more independent. Besides trying abseiling and windsurfing he can drive again too. Sometimes he goes on diving holidays on his own.
"It would have been handy if Mark could dive in British waters. If that was so, we'd have moved to the coast.
"But the water is too cold over here. His veins would constrict and we need them to be as open as possible to allow the oxygen to flow around.
"It's lucky he chose to learn to dive abroad, or it might not have happened here because of the water temperature." The last word has to be Mark's. "I'm just so thankful I went that extra bit deeper," he grinned. "Otherwise I'd still be in that wheelchair."
Pretty amazing.
put him back on feet
I GOT OUT OF WHEELCHAIR
AFTER MIRACLE DIVE
By Lucy Lang
CRIPPLED with spina bifida, paralysed from the waist down, Mark Chenoweth was resigned to his fate ...never to walk again.
No doctor on earth could have predicted how that dream would change his life.
Because on a holiday to the Med, Mark, 45, took his first proper scuba lesson...and emerged from the water able to walk again. He was back on his feet for three daysuntil the disability again robbed him of his limbs.
So he strapped on his aqualung and went back under water. And he has discovered that the deeper he dives, the longer he can walk when he gets out.
Mark's recovery is so astonishing he has used his wheelchair just twice in the last 12 months. He even goes abseiling and windsurfing.
His wife Denise, a nurse, recalled the moment she saw her husband stand up.
"I couldn't believe it," she said. "Mark had gone out to the dive centre in his wheelchair, and now here he was arriving back not in his wheelchair, but pushing it in front of him instead.
"When I woke up the next morning I thought I must have dreamed it all. Then Mark got out of bed and walked into the bathroom to have a shower. It was wonderful to watch him."
Spina bifida, a condition affecting the spine, hits sufferers from birth. At 12, Mark could not move unaided. By the age of 34, increasing nerve damage meant he was unable to walk at all.
Trained as an accountant, he had to give up work. He could not drive and needed help dressing and washing.
It wasn't easy because there are risks. The deeper you dive, the more the water pressure affects your bloodstream.
Mark explained: "The doctor told me it could be dangerous. He said if I went below 18 metres it could kill me as I wouldn't be able to feel any nitrogen bubbles building up in my legs because they were numb. That could lead to me having a heart attack. But I was so desperate to learn to dive."
A few months later he and Denise headed to Menorca and Mark signed up for a local dive course. The date is seared in his memory. October 2, 1998.
He had to be lifted out of his wheelchair, balanced on the side of the boat and then helped into the sea.
As the instructors pulled him on board, he felt a bizarre sensation surging through his limbs. Shakily, he stood uptotally unaided for the first time since he was 12.
"I came out and I could feel my legs like I'd never felt them before," Mark added. "They were actually working.
"The instructor couldn't believe it. He'd seen me arrive in my wheelchair, and now I didn't need it. I just stood up in the boat and shouted, Look at this'." Denise, 45, chipped in: "The next day we walked into the hotel restaurant for breakfast. The staff couldn't believe what they were seeing.
"The previous morning we'd wheeled him in. Now here we were, just walking in like a normal couple.
"Still, Mark was nervous and wobbly as he hadn't walked for such a long time. It was so strange for him to look down and see his feet working." Holiday
Three days later, the effects wore off.
"It happened quite quickly," said Denise. "The feeling in his legs went away and soon he was back in his wheelchair.
"We were all devastated. But even though he couldn't walk again, it really boosted Mark. At least he had some hope that he'd walk again." They didn't have long to wait. The couple, who live in Leek, Staffs, headed for the waters of South Africa. Once more, after diving he could walk for another few days. Mark recalled: "Over the next few years I experimented and found the deeper I dived, the longer I could walk afterwards.
"Crucially, I had to go to below 17 metres. Anything less and there's no discernible effect.
"I've found if I dive to 50 metres I can walk for about eight months."At the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, where Mark has been treated over the last decade, doctors are baffled as are colleagues woldwide.
Their only theory is that divers take in a richer mix of oxygen from their aqualungs than at ground level. That extra oxygen in Mark's bloodstream might be having a temporary effect on the nerve cells.
"My case could have far-reaching implications," Mark added. "If only someone knew WHY it happened."
News of the World doctor Hilary Jones agreed: "This really is a one in a million story. I've never heard anything like it before."
Whatever the reason, Mark and Denise are thanking their lucky stars. "He's so much stronger and happier," said Denise. "It's great to have a normal husband-and-wife relationship too. For years I've been Mark's carer and he's been the patientnow it's like we're a proper couple again. I've even been able to go back to work as a nurse.
"He's much more independent. Besides trying abseiling and windsurfing he can drive again too. Sometimes he goes on diving holidays on his own.
"It would have been handy if Mark could dive in British waters. If that was so, we'd have moved to the coast.
"But the water is too cold over here. His veins would constrict and we need them to be as open as possible to allow the oxygen to flow around.
"It's lucky he chose to learn to dive abroad, or it might not have happened here because of the water temperature." The last word has to be Mark's. "I'm just so thankful I went that extra bit deeper," he grinned. "Otherwise I'd still be in that wheelchair."
Pretty amazing.
