Amber Rangel

Whether it be swimming, waterskiing or kayaking. When I was 7 i joined the the Ski Broncs a waterski show team. I was on the team for about 6 years before I decided to train strictly for barefoot water skiing. In July 2015, two weeks before my national competition, I fell and injured my spinal cord. I am a C5 incomplete quadriplegic. This means I have no movement below my arms and no fine motor in my hands. I was in the ICU for five days before I headed to an inpatient rehab. I spent almost five months relearning how to do day to day tasks. With my new fear of the water even taking a shower was unbearable. Just the thought of the water hitting my skin took me back to that traumatizing day on the river. Everything about the water creeped me out. With a spinal cord injury it is impossible to regulate body temperature. The cold was like needles on my skin. I knew I needed to conquer that fear before I let it consume me. Baby steps is what it took. Pretty soon I was able to get in the pool a few times while in rehab with the help of my physical therapists. Once I returned to my parents house I started to fall into a depression. Almost everything with completely flipped around. My family and friends reached out to me with many ideas to get me out of the house and stay active. Just two months after leaving rehab, I showed up for my first adaptive snow skiing lesson! Two volunteers at the event really helped bring back my desire and curiosity for thrill seeking and adventure. They then invited me to a Diveheart event the following week. Diveheart is an organization that uses scuba therapy to help people with cognitive or physical disabilities. I was very skeptical about the idea. How were they going to take a quadriplegic underwater? Is this safe? Where is this going to take place? I was nervous when I showed up but everyone was so welcoming and made me feel comfortable. At this point I was still afraid to have water hit my face so i chose to use a full face mask. My DiveHeart team successfully got me underwater that morning. I’m so glad I pushed myself to get into the water that day .Diving has given me to confidence to conquer my fear of the water. After about a year of pool dives i won a scholarship through Divehearts amigo program. This gave my sister and me the opportunity to go to Cozumel to become open water certified. After this trip I was hooked! I continued to do pool, pond, and quarry dives for the next nine months. On a whim, I decided to join Diveheart in Utila Honduras in September 2016. I was warned not to bring my power chair because there wouldn't be a way to get it onto the island. So, I was off to Utila in my hand me down manual chair. I spent the week with a group of students learning the diveheart curriculum to be able to come a adaptive buddy. When I dive I have a team of 3 or 4 people with me at all times. They also are trained to do transfers to and from my wheelchair. While I was there these students were able to get hands on experience that their text book could never offer. Scuba diving has helped me grow in places i didn't think possible. It has and will continue to show me new places to explore. Unfortunately not all the locations I'd like to visit are accessible or even allow adaptive diving but I hope in the future, I can change that. Scuba diving, for me, is about being looked at as an able body and not a wheelchair user. Diving allows me to be weightless, a feeling I can't feel on land. She is brave and she will go where she pleases.