I'll post more info when I have it.
Terri was a close friend of the family, when my wife and I get back from Tennessee I will let you know what happened.
Kevin Robinson
This is all I have for now, I will post more when I get back from Terri's services in Tennessee.
Thanks, Kevin Robinson
Hello everyone,
We wanted to give you an update and to let you know what we understand happened this weekend. As you may already know, Terri, Alan Williams' wife, died Saturday afternoon. If this is the first you are hearing of this, we sincerely apologize for the news coming in such an impersonal way. We felt it was important to reach everyone as quickly as possible with the most up to date information.
The following information is what was described to us by Alan and Renee Erdman who were cave diving with Terri in the Devils ear cave system at Ginnie Springs.
The three of them had done a nice, easy dive up the Hill 400 line to a place called the Ice Palace. The three had dropped their stages at the Hill 400 jump. After the dive was turned, Terri led out, Renee second and Alan in the rear. They went back to breathing their stages at the Hill 400 jump and continued their exit with Terri leading at a nice, leisurely pace. When they got to the Key Hole, Terri went vertical, and turned around facing Renee and Alan. Renee got to Terri first and looked directly in her eyes, noticed that Terri was on her back up regulator (not the stage) and was preparing to offer Terri her regulator. Within these few seconds, Alan was immediately there, having deployed his long hose regulator after also noticing Terri was on her backup regulator. Alan said as he tried to give her his regulator he noticed her eyes were closed and she had stopped breathing. Both Alan and Renee said there was a slight shudder, then Terri went limp. Alan begin towing Terri out by her harness, keeping her head back to open the airway. On the exit, Renee tried purging air into Terri's mouth, but there was no response. The exit to the surface was hindered slightly at Devil's Ear when Terri's light cord caught on the log. The total time to surface from the Keyhole was 8 minutes. Upon surfacing, they began calling for help and people on the surface assisted removing her from the water, removing her gear, and administering CPR. CPR was done by individuals at the site until paramedics arrived and CPR was continued for about 30 minutes by the medical personnel. Terri was unable to be revived. Both Alan and Renee skipped over 22 minutes of decompression, but have had no effects of DCI.
Tina got a call at about 5:30 from a friend who was on the scene and immediately went to High Springs where the group was staying. After packing up their hotel rooms, Alan, Ted Walker, and Sid & Renee came to our house in Gainesville. We have had a very emotional weekend and to say that it has been hard is a great understatement.
At this time we have no definitive explanation for what may have caused this terrible turn of events. We do know that the dive went flawlessly and that, as always, each person was diving well within their training and experience. Terri had not complained of any medical problems prior to the dive, and gave no indication of experiencing any problems during the dive. We are all patiently awaiting the Medical examiners report in hopes that some explanations might be gathered as to the cause of this tragedy.
The weekend has been a flurry of phone calls and emails. We are all thankful for the many true friends and loved ones who have called and written to express their sympathies and support. It gives us great peace knowing Alan and their families have such a strong support network. Many of you called Saturday and Sunday wishing to speak to Alan and we appreciate your understanding when he wasn't up to talking on the phone.
We are hoping that this email will help alleviate the need for Alan to recount the tragic event of this past Saturday. Alan, his family, Terri's famliy and all of his close friends are going to need a great deal of support in dealing with this. If anyone would like to discuss this further, you can feel free to contact Tina and me as we will do all we can to assist.
Alan, Ted, Sid and Renee are on their way home today and will unquestionably experience a fresh wave of grief once they reunite with their family and friends. All we can do is keep them in our prayers and to be there for them in this, their greatest hour of need.