Freediving with a bleeding disorder
Photograph by Maxwell Hohn

Freediving with a bleeding disorder

This post was submitted by Rick Waines (on the above photo, credit: Maxwell Hohn). Rick is a freediver on the west coast of Canada, nearly a regular on the Hawaiian Islands, and a great person to dive with. He suffers from a serious bleeding disorder, but this does not stop him from diving deeper than 30 m, or doing 5+ min statics. Here is his story:

An important part of freedive training is becoming familiar with different kinds of freediving emergencies; shallow water blackouts, whiteouts, laryngospasms, loss of motor control (known as LMC), decompression illness (rare) and of course barotrauma. In order to recognize these different problems two approaches are employed. Through role playing in the pool and on the line we get to see the signs and symptoms of these problems and practice handling them. But this relies on the acting abilities of our classmates and instructors and while I should say that Kirk Krack’s LMC imitation is a must see there is no replacing watching the real thing. If you freedive long enough you are likely to witness an LMC. But seeing it once in person within the stress of the moment is different than watching it over and over in class on a TV screen. With repeated practice you become comfortable with these freediving problems in a controlled setting before you have to act on a real-life emergency.

One of the more dramatic and disturbing freediving emergencies to witness of course is a barotrauma that causes bleeding. Even a relatively minor issue such as a blocked sinus blowing out can mean a very bloody nose and a mask filled with blood. Anytime there is blood pouring out of a human it gets your attention. It gets mine anyway. I am not squeamish and certainly not around blood, more on that in a minute, but a video we watched of someone experiencing a serious lung squeeze, which meant watching a freediver coughing up a lot of blood, was deeply affecting. It was very emotional for me anyway. It was hard to watch someone doing something they love ending up bloody and fighting for breath. Hard to watch but important to see.

Safe freediving while prone to bleed?

Did I mention that I have a bleeding disorder? With the risk of trachea and lung squeeze that attends freediving you might think that having a bleeding disorder would make it off limits. Without getting into the details, here’s what I know. I have a great Hematology team (world class) that I have spent a lot of time talking with about the risks and my particular condition. We came up with a regime that in theory means I am at no more risk than anyone else when freediving and upon a lot of reflection, that is good enough for me.

I decided a long time ago that depth competition was not for me and while I know that this will not insulate me from squeezes it feels a good place to start. It will also be important to keep up with stretching and other dry land training that supports safe freediving. Freediving will never be risk free for any of us but I feel quite a bit safer for having had all the training I have had.

I think it is fair to expect that my propensity to bleed will catch peoples’ attention. In the past I have been anxious that I would be unable to continue to learn and participate in formal training due to the understandable concerns. I have had most of my freediving training with Performance Freediving International (PFI). What I would like to appreciate PFI for though is a general comfort with my medical condition, a comfort that I haven’t found anywhere else. Does that mean they weren’t as safety conscious as they could be or needed to be? No. What it meant was that they trusted me and my expert medical team to weigh and assess the risks. Period, end of discussion with no lingering anxiety. I had to provide a doctors’ waiver of course but I haven’t always found that allays all fears. I guess it is no surprise to me that PFI is undertaking to teach Freediving to people with different physical challenges. This is from a Deeper Blue interview from Blue Wild Expo about accessibility and diving:

 

“The idea is, everyone should have an opportunity to play in freediving at some level of capacity,” Krack said. “We’re going to start introducing a level of programming within Performance Freediving for people with disabilities and into the near future then we’ll offer our instructors an instructor program so that they can then do that sort of thing.”

 

It seems that it is important to PFI to make the sport accessible to anyone who wishes to experience what it is like to be weightless and free of the indignities that gravity imposes on those of us with mobility issues for example. Let me be clear, safety has been at the centre of every freediving course I have ever taken. PFI is no different. What I appreciate about PFI is their conviction to making freediving accessible. I work as an audio describer. I describe theatre for folks who are blind. So I get accessibility, and appreciate the ease and grace PFI has when faced with freedivers like me and those who have more to contend with physically than I. It is a great relief to feel normal. I have lost the ability to participate in most land based recreational activities due to lifelong bleeding into my ankles. So, Freediving plays a very important role in my physical and mental well-being. Thank you PFI.

wrick

Rick is an avid cold-water freediver and a PFI certified safety supervisor. If he is not diving he is active at VocalEye or working as a playwright.

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