Paralyzed Man Regains His Freedom Through Diving
Feb. 2, 2017 - After becoming paralyzed in a car accident, a 24-year-old sports enthusiast
is regaining his freedom through scuba diving. Though Roberto "Tito" Ramirez Rivas has gone through intense physical rehabilitation, he has limited physical mobility when on the ground. Rivas' doctors recognized the benefits of scuba therapy for the disabled and signed him up for scuba diving lessons in the waters off of Cabo Pulmo, Mexico. For Rivas, being underwater means that he can feel physically and mentally free once again.
Q&A with Tito Ramirez Rivas.
TITO RAMIREZ RIVAS: When I enter the water I forget everything and I live in the moment. I don't feel different. I don't feel like a person with a disability. I feel like a person who is equal to the one next to me.
TITO RAMIREZ RIVAS: My name is Roberto Alejandro Ramirez Rivas and I'm 24-years-old. I was in a car accident on November 2, 2011. I fractured my cervical bones one, five and six which left me with a spinal cord injury.
DR. PERLA BERENICE VILLALOBOS GONZALEZ, PHYSICAL MEDICINE AND REHABILITATION PHYSICIAN: When Roberto arrived, his body functions were completely restricted from the head down. After all the therapies he received, he began to move his arms, his hands.
CHIKARA YANOME TODA, DIVE WITHOUT BARRIERS – MEXICO: My name is Chikara and I run Dive Without Barriers-Mexico. The underwater world offers something incomparable to people with disabilities. For example, for someone like Tito [Roberto] with limited physical mobility on the ground, in the water everything changes.
TITO RAMIREZ RIVAS: Of course, after the accident you do lose freedom. I depended on someone for everything and it feels awful. The activities I enjoyed before my accident were all those activities that were related to the sea. I felt free.
CHIKARA YANOME TODA, DIVE WITHOUT BARRIERS – MEXICO: The story of Tito has been a very interesting story for us. Since we knew he was very interested in everything related to the sea, we invited him to participate in diving—a new adventure.
CHIKARA YANOME TODA, DIVE WITHOUT BARRIERS – MEXICO: We brought together a very interesting team of instructors from Baja California Sur who fell in love with the project, and who were able to transmit to Tito all of their knowledge and experiences so they could take him to the sea again.
TITO RAMIREZ RIVAS: You forget everything and it's only you and the bottom of the sea. And you feel that freedom that I had some time ago. And you recover it while you're down there.
