New to this board and wanted to share my scuba diving quest with all of you

[scuba diving Matt]

Hi everyone, my name is Matt. I wanted to share my quest to scuba dive with all of you. I am determined now to connect with others in Minnesota who have the knowledge to help. All my dive friends I have met so far are all over the country, it’s time to meet some in this neck of the woods! I also noticed that bunch of you go to Wazee Lake. I was there this past summer to meet Dick Long; I had a blast and cannot wait for next year! Dick Long even made me an honorary DOG. I’ve come to know Dick Long well after that and I’m best friends with his daughter Susan Long from DUI. They plan to donate a dry suit for me to use for my diving project.

Does anyone here know of any groups in MN that help disabled people go diving? I have been in contact with many handicapped diving groups but none here in MN. A little bit about me: I am 27 years old and vent-dependent with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Doctors said I have 9 lives for as many times that I have come close to dying.

I love everything to do with scuba diving and all the technology for diving. I love everything to do with underwater life too. (especially SHARKS!) I live in Woodbury, MN. I have one last goal I want to accomplish in my life and that is to go scuba diving! To me going diving would be the best thing I could do with my life!

If I could just be underwater to start with for 5 – 10 ft for 5 – 10 minutes that would be good enough! Of course I am hoping for a lot more time. I used to travel a lot; I have been to many different parts of the world.

I have contacted and received help from engineering professors, physicians, scuba organizations, researchers and others in my quest to dive. My story has been published in Dive Chronicles, the Pioneer Press here in MN, and on the Navy SEALS.com web site. The Woodbury bulletin and Diver magazine (UK) are currently working on articles about my dream too!

My doctor and other colleagues think it’s doable with the right equipment. Project Innerspace, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit agency that seeks to address critical human health issues through ocean exploration, already has agreed to sponsor me by contributing to some early-stage program development and project management. Mike Lombardi, who is on Project Innerspace's board and is also my friend said the group agreed to take on the project because it believes whatever ventilator is developed, will help everyone by advancing technology.

I have also been trying to get NASA involved, since astronauts are similar to divers. They have to train underwater also. I haven’t had any luck hearing back from NASA through Johnson Space Center. Any one know how to reach someone that could help me?

Please contact me if you know of anybody that could help. I’d be grateful for your advice or support. If you would like to know more about my quest to dive please check out my web site I am on a bunch of other dive boards, but I am mainly on Scuba Board. Scuba Board has been an amazing place to me to get in touch with other divers. I have made many great friends and their continued support keeps me going. I can’t wait to dive with the friends I have made here, from DUI and all over!

Sincerely,
Matt :

[jasondbaker]

Hi Matt, welcome to mnscuba.com. I think we all are enriched to have you participate in our community. Your story is inspiring and gives us something to reflect on during the Thanksgiving holiday. I wish you all the best in your quest to dive. Keep us updated on your progess.

BTW, there is another disabled diver that recently joined the wiscuba.com board. You may be able to share information and experiences with him.

[scuba diving Matt]

Hi Jason, thanks for the nice message. I went ahead and joined and posted on the WI board also. I appreciate your kind words, I will make my dream come true, then I can have something to really share with all of you divers! I will keep you posted along with everyone else about my progress. Take care and safe diving.
-Matt- 8)

[scuba diving Matt]

8) Hello to all,

Here is a copy of the story about my quest recently published in
the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper. There is no picture on the
internet copy...just the hard copy. The Woodberry Paper inter viewed me two weeks ago. Will forward that
as well. Again, thanks for all your support. It is making the
difference of my dream becoming a reality.

Regards,
-Matt-

Posted on Thu, Nov. 11, 2004

Man has designs on diving

Funding, his muscular dystrophy stand in way of realizing dream

BY NANCY YANG

Pioneer Press


Matt Johnston has wanted to scuba dive since he was 6 years old.

But the Woodbury man, who has muscular dystrophy and has to use a ventilator to breathe, didn't do much about his dream until the death last year of his best friend and nurse, Michelle Zimmer.

"She always said to me, 'Live your dream out.' That gave me the incentive," Johnston said of Zimmer. "I never would have gotten far without her. She always believed in me. … She left her mark on me, and I want to leave a mark on the world."

Fulfilling his dream won't be easy.

Johnston has a condition called Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a degenerative disease that eventually affects all voluntary muscles, the heart and breathing muscles. According to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, most people with this type of disease do not live past their early 30s. Johnston is 27. He also has scoliosis, which causes abnormal curvature of the spine.

For him to dive, he would need an underwater-capable ventilator. That type of ventilator hasn't been fully developed yet and would be quite expensive, Johnston said, so he is in the process of recruiting engineers to work on the design and lining up funding.

Most people he has talked to — doctors, friends in the scuba-diving industry, engineers and exploration divers — say it is definitely possible for him to dive. And he is determined. "I think it was destiny," Johnston said. "I think God is telling me to do it."

To fulfill his dream, Johnston estimates he will need approximately $200,000.

Project Innerspace, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit agency that seeks to address critical human health issues through ocean exploration, already has agreed to sponsor him by contributing to some early-stage program development and project management.

Mike Lombardi, who is on Project Innerspace's board and is also a friend of Johnston's, said the group agreed to take on the project because it believes whatever ventilator is developed will help everyone by advancing technology.

"I think this can develop a new life-support system," Lombardi said.

Lombardi, who is also an exploration diver, said the biggest hurdle will be raising enough money to fund the research so a prototype can be developed.

"We need to take his ventilator device, or a variation of his device, and repackage that so that it can get wet and submerged," Lombardi said. "Beyond that, it will be operating at an increased pressure, so the way that the system functions is going to change completely."

Johnston already has a special ventilator in mind for use — the HT50 from Newport Medical Instruments, based in Newport Beach, Calif. The HT50, which costs about $12,000, has been used in hyperbaric chambers, or high-pressure oxygenated sealed rooms, up to 2.1 atmospheres, which he said equates to about the same pressure as 33 feet underwater. Johnston has even come up with a way he thinks he could use it.

He said he would put the ventilator inside a backpack and strap it to himself, keeping the ventilator inside his dry suit. He would have a one-way exhalation valve to let the carbon dioxide into the water and an air line feeding into the ventilator. Johnston said he thinks his air supply could be either above water or he could have someone diving with him to carry the air tank underwater.

Johnston isn't planning to stay underwater long. He said he'd be satisfied with even 10 minutes of going between 2 and 10 feet under the sea. "I love everything that has to with things underwater," he said. "It's just amazing."

But it's still a dream that is about two years away. A tentative time line has Johnston doing the dive in the summer of 2006, after the funding, research, design and development are completed.

He hasn't yet picked a place for the dive, either. He is looking at Florida or San Diego, said Charlee Dollens, Johnston's father. Both are warm places that have good diving facilities, Dollens said, and Johnston already has contacts in San Diego.

In the meantime, Johnston is working on his project plan. He's asking for sponsorship, donations, help with publicity, and assistance with research and engineering.

"Nothing is impossible," he said. "If a man can go to the moon, I can certainly go scuba diving."

[scuba diving Matt]

;D Hey everyone, just thought I would share the latest article on me that was done by the Navy Seals. Hope you enjoy it.

Safe Diving
Matt

BlackNET: One man’s dream: Scuba dive despite medical limitations

Written by NavySEALs.com/BlackNET News

Thursday November 4, 2004

By Steve Hammons
Deputy editor, NavySEALs.com / BlackNET Global News Service
04 November 2004

A 27-year-old Minnesota man with muscular dystrophy is reaching out to the U.S. Navy and Navy SEAL communities for support in achieving his life-long dream of scuba diving.

Matt Johnston has also contacted and received help from engineering professors, physicians, scuba organizations, researchers and others in his quest to dive. He’s determined to connect with others who have the knowledge to help him.

Knowing that outfits like NASA and the SEALs are on the cutting edge of these kinds of technologies, Johnston is reaching out in their direction to recruit the expertise and support he will need to accomplish his mission. “My dream is to go scuba diving. I am trying to reach out to more people to help me get my dream accomplished! I am willing to do anything to make my dream to go scuba diving happen.” Matt says.

Matt says he has dreamed about scuba diving since he was six years old. However, his medical condition has proved limiting to accomplishing some of his physical goals. His drive, ambition and dreams have continued to thrive despite these limitations.

Confined to certain necessary but restrictive medical equipment, Johnston doesn’t want to go on a SEAL combat mission, he just wants to go to relatively shallow depths for a limited amount of time.

Due to his medical condition, Matt has come close to death several times, and he’s unsure how much time he may have to achieve his objective. “Doctors said I have nine lives for as many times that I have come close to dying,” Matt explains. “But I am still kicking! I don't know how much longer I have to live, could be a day, could be a year, could be more. Sometimes doctors don't know the answer either.”

He has done extensive research on technologies and diving equipment available that could be applied to his situation. Johnston’s physician is a diver and reportedly believes this dream is technically and medically possible.

“Most people think that this is possible,” Matt says. “The challenge is finding a way to make it work with the ventilator I am thinking about using under water. I would like to use a HT50 ventilator from Newport NMI. It's small, compact and weighs less than my current vent. It has been used in hyperbaric chambers down to 2.1 atmospheres, which is 33 feet.”

Several organizations that help handicapped people dive have come to Matt’s attention and he has made many contacts to understand what kind of equipment and techniques are used. Certain types diving gear and medical equipment, such as a more portable ventilator, might be combined to make his dream a reality.

Matt’s has done his research. “I would put the vent inside a backpack, strap it to me keeping the vent inside my dry suit, have an exhalation valve (one way) to let out the CO2 into the water and a line feeding into the dry suit. I think my air supply could either be above water, or I could have one of my diving buddies carry the air tank underwater.”

“I have made lots of important friends in the diving world, especially with Diving Unlimited International in San Diego. Susan Long is the president of that company and we are in touch daily. Her whole company has been incredibly supportive of my dream and plan to help when it is time,” Matt states.

Johnston has created a Web site to help generate understanding and support for his dream. On the site, he describes his love for the ocean and the idea of being underwater. He includes photos of himself, friends and the sea. Visit his site at


Steve Hammons has worked as a journalist, editor, counselor, teacher-trainer, public safety urgent response specialist and federal government researcher. He is author of two novels, MISSION INTO LIGHT and the sequel LIGHT’S HAND, available from the NavySEALs.com SOCOM Store. Visit his home page at:

[scuba diving Matt]

Another newspaper story written about my quest to dive. Wanted to share this
with all of my friends. Because of all of you that my dream is coming close to
reality.

Safe Diving!

-Matt-


Scuba trip would fulfill Johnston’s dream
Wednesday, December 01, 2004

By Tom Carothers

We all have dreams. Some may dream to be a movie star, some may dream to be a pro athlete.

Others may dream for a better job, while others dream of a better life.

Woodbury resident Matt Johnston dreams of going scuba diving. It seems a simple enough dream to most of us, one that may only require a plane ticket and some lessons. It may seem simple enough until you learn one fact:

Johnston has Duchenne’s

Muscular Dystrophy.

“Sometimes I feel like I’ve gotten a bad deal,” he said. “But I can’t think like that.”
Johnston also has scoliosis, which has given him an abnormally curved spine. He uses a specially designed, motorized wheelchair. He is almost completely paralyzed, unable to make any more but the slightest movement of his thumb and forefinger to control his chair.

While his body may be confined, his mind soars over, and into, the ocean.

“I’ve dreamed of scuba diving as long as I can remember, since I was about six,” he said.

It took a great personal tragedy to spur Johnston’s dream into motion. Michelle Zimmer, his nurse and friend, died last year in a car accident. In their time together, she had prodded him to pursue his dream.

When she was suddenly gone, something awoke within Johnston, who began reaching out with the help of his new nurse to make his dream a reality.

He picked a good time as technology is catching up to his dream. Johnston contacted NASA and the United States Navy. He made friends with Professor Mike Lombardi of University of Rhode Island, who is on the board of a non-profit agency called Project Innerspace, which seeks answers to human maladies beneath the waves.

“Mike has been great in helping me pursue my dream,” Johnston said, noting that the agency has assisted in getting his dream off the ground.

He has found a legion of fans, well-wishers and assistance through Diving Unlimited International, a company out of San Diego. DUI will be donating to him the dry suit for when he makes his dive.

He is in constant contact with their president, Susan Long, who has written an ode to Johnston that is displayed on his web site, .

“She has been so supportive. I’ve found many friends in the diving community,” Johnston said. “It is such a wonderful and supportive group of people. Many are trying to help me accomplish my dream.”

He keeps in constant contact with divers around the world through his own web site and as a greeter of an Internet forum (scuba board) dedicated to divers with disabilities.

“I’m trying to reach out to as many people as I can to make my dream a reality,” he said.

He has even received a letter of luck from Richard Branson, president of Virgin Corporation.

“It’s going to be very expensive, I knew that all along,” he said. “A lot of what I am trying to do is to get the funding to make this happen.”

It will take an estimated $200,000 or more to make Johnston’s dream a reality. He has many contributors waiting in the wings to help fund his quest and a new web site is being set up to handle donations he hopes to receive in the future.

“We’re also looking at getting commercial sponsorship,” he said. “I think I may be close there as well.”

A great deal of the cost for Johnston’s dream will go toward research and development and a special type of vent. Ironic that a man who is forced to spend nearly every moment on a device that breathes for him awaits a ventilator, however that is just the case for Johnston.

“I want to use the HT50 from Newport Medical Instruments, the challenge is making it work underwater and keeping it dry,” he said. “If there’s a way to fit it into a backpack or to have a buddy or two of mine hold it above water.”

For all the preparation and planning, Johnston’s dream does not carry him to great depths once he makes his hoped-for dive. The HT50 is tested to 2.1 atmospheres, which equates to aproximately 33 feet underwater. For Johnston, he doesn’t have to go that far.

“It’s just to dive, to actually go under the water, even for a few minutes,” he said. “I could move my arms and legs.”

While technology has caught up to his dream, time may be running out for Johnston. Most people with Duchenne’s do not live past their early 30’s. Johnston is 27.
“I’ve already had a few scary times,” Johnston said, noting the disease has progressed noticably in the past few years. “My doctors have said I have nine lives. But none of us knows how long we have.”

In the meantime, Johnston sets up in front of his portal to the world, communicating with his diving friends and associates and anyone else who can help him with his dream.

He has gained notice as well, as more and more e-mails, cards and donations show up along with a myriad of requests for information as to his progress come from everyone from curious divers to journalists wanting to chronicle his efforts. Including schools from around the country where young students have been sending hand drawn pictures and letters of encouragement.

“People are really taking notice,” he said. “Hopefully that brings me closer to being able to make my dive. I have met a lot of wonderful people through this, now I just hope someday soon I will be able to go scuba diving.” ;D

[john j]

Matt;

I was really moved by reading your story. You have so much courage to be doing something like this and I wish you much success. It all sounds feasible to me, especially with someone as dedicated as you to getting it done.

If you need a diver to help, feel free to contact me.

Please keep us all posted on your progress.

Regards;

John Janzen

[scubadog76]

Hey Matt, try calling the Courage center. They could probably give you some help and resources to accomplish your goals. They used to be in Golden Valley but I saw on their site they may be moving to Burnsville. The general info. number is :763-588-0811 and I also saw a number for aquatic physical therapy: 763-520-0312. Good luck, Jeff.

[scuba diving Matt]

Hi John, thanks for the great message. It's fun to meet so many of you awesome divers. I will for sure add you to my contacts for if I ever need help with it. My project is coming along pretty well. I should have the funding up which people can donate to. I will definitly keep you posted along with everyone else here. Take care and of course safe diving from Matt. ;D

[scuba diving Matt]

Hi Jeff, thanks for the contacts. I will try to get in touch with them. I want to start swimming again anyway to get used to the water before I dive and maybe they can help me with some of that. Take care, have a great day and safe diving. From Matt.