Scuabamau diving accident

[sharky60]

Wow! What a shock! I've been off the SB for a few days and just picked up this post.

Happy to hear that recovery appears to be on it's way. We will continue to send positve thoughts and prayers for all.

 

[driftin' by]

kevins posts have been from second hand info. i personally went to clin san miguel and visited and spoke to her family, and also visited gabi and heath.
the scubaboard posts have been VERY WRONG.

I suppose the limited details Kevin shared about the dive is what is in question here as it seems most of the medical related specifics line up. Perhaps, Kevin's reported prognosis yesterday wasn't as positive as subsequent, first-hand reports have been but I'm still having a difficult time finding any drastic contradictions or slanderous comments on his behalf. I don't know Kevin personally but don't understand the recent flaming of him.

Glad to hear that survival and a positive recovery are both real possibilities. Still sending well wishes and positive vibes from Colorado.

 

[Diver Kat]

I too have never met Kevin, but would like to thank him for starting this thread, and sharing what information he was receiving. We all know that when information is passed along it sometimes gets muddled. I'm sure anything that he passed along was not purposefully erroneous. It obvious how dear Opal & the Scuba Mau family all are to him and all he wanted was a thread for everyone to send their prayers and good vibes towards everyone's recovery. Let's not beat up the messenger in the heat of the moment just because everything relayed wasn't perfect! Thanks again Kevin!

I'm also glad to hear that Opal may be doing better than originally thought, and that all the injured divers are getting all the help possible from the great medical community on Cozumel.

 

[Gdog]

OMG....ENOUGH OF THE WHINING ABOUT THE REPORTS AND WHO IS RUMORED TO HAVE BEEN ON SPREADING RUMORS. What the heck. No one has spread any rumors, and the ones that could have been have been halted by both Kevin and the scubaboard community. So some of the facts have been second hand. Thank God for that or nobody here would have known anything for days, and speculation would have run rampant! Thanks to Kevin for doing his best to keep us all as up to date as he could. Some of the details not quite right, ok so im sure he did the best he could while keeping us all focused on keeping these injured people in our prayers and insisting the rest could be talked about later. Thanks to the folks who were able to give us first hand info, that is much appreciated. The entire scubaboard community is stunned, hurt, and anxious to learn what we can about this and support the injured divers. Thanks Heath for your first person information, and we pray you will continue to improve and heal back to 100%.
Please, lets keep the focus of this thread on the health of these 3 people. Keeping them all in my prayers.

 

[Scubagirl64]

This is my first time posting here on a forum so I don't know a lot about doing it. What I do know a lot about is Opal & the dive shop. I am EXTREMELY close to Opal, Heath & Gabi. Opal is a very close & dear friend of mine. I live here on the island (unfortunately I was in the states when this happened.) I know with confidence that none of them would have made a DP to that depth. I also know that there is nothing in this world that would have stopped Gabi from trying to save her, she is not only his boss but she is FAMILY to him, and I know that Heath would be hot on his tails to reach her too. I would like to thank MLK2724 for her post this morning. Scuba Mau & all the employees are professional and this was not a customer hired dive!!!! They would never do any such thing. All three are very experienced and qualified divers, DM's and above. Knowing Opal as I do, I know she (they all will) will recover, she is not only a fighter but a scraper, lol. Right now this is life saving but when she returns to the dive shop I sincerely hope that the comments and such don't turn this into a life supporting issue also. As I said early, her dive operation is safe, responsible, & experienced. They are attentive to all levels of their customers abilitites & they don't push the limits. Other companies may disagree, but that's because with Scuba Mau it is a personal & family like atmosphere, not a cattle call with 40/40/40 on your dives, so they can make faster money. They TRULY cater to their customers (more like extended family members) and their experience levels, their specific quirks or special needs that they might have. I would apologize for my emphasis on the dive shop towards the end of this post but living here on the island i know first hand how something like this could take someones livelyhood. I just needed/wanted to tell those here on this forum that this was a NON CUSTOMER shop personnel dive ACCIDENT!!!!!! Again it was an accident, and those happen everywhere.

 

[Maya'sMim]

As far as the rest of you who posted comments standing by Kevin, you may want to reconsider. None of you, including Kevin, has even thought about posting an apology to the divers or their families. Their private medical conditions should NOT have been made public without their permission nor should you be making comments at Heath challenging him when the poor guy is not even out of the hospital.

It is clear that Kevin meant no harm and was only acting as a member of the diving community who clearly love Opal, Gabi and the rest of the Scuba Mau family. What good does it do for you to incite ill will against Kevin? This thread is dedicated to good vibes, not bad ones. Let's keep this positive!

 

[mstevens]

Everybody should keep in mind that "C2" is not a type of injury, it's a location that refers to the level of the second cervical (or neck) vertebra.

If you look up C2 spinal cord injuries, most of what you'll see pertains to transverse spinal cord injuries at the level of the second cervical vertebra due to trauma, such as vertebral fracture.

It's certainly possible for a diver to sustain the type of injury you'll read about, but more likely is a decompression injury. This can be diffuse or localized and may not follow the pattern of what's seen in a fracture. Such an injury can be quite severe, but there's greater variability in both symptoms and outcomes.

Just as there's no point right now in speculating about how or why this particular accident happened, there is nowhere near enough information provided anywhere in this thread for anyone to make assumptions about the extent or likely outcome of the divers' injuries. Typically at this point even the treating medical team would still be trying to establish this.

 

[mrtoadfish]

all of my love to opal and gabi. heath i have never met you but i still wish you all the best

 

[Paco]

My prayers and all my hopes for these unfortunate people.

 

[Dave Zimmerly]

How very sad.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to them.

We have been diving with ScubaMau for the past couple of years and have dived with Gaby several times. Truly good people and a top-notch operation.