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A man who had his neck broken after being hit by a drunk driver seven years ago is showing people that it is possible to overcome long odds. Mitchell Brogan was an avid scuba diver before the crash. And afterwards he was afraid he’d never dive again. But the Handicap Scuba Association has helped make the 33-year old’s dreams come true.
Cindy Csordas has the details on this inspiring story.

Mitchell Brogan says he hopes his story will inspire other people who have disabilities to try and do things they think they may not be able to do. He says you’d be amazed at the opportunities out there for people with disabilities.

Under water, Mitchell Brogan feels just like a regular scuba diver: “I can do anything underwater that you can do, go anywhere that you can go and that for me is a really interesting and amazing fact.”

But 7 years ago, Mitchell Brogan thought his scuba diving days were over. He was riding his bike and was struck by a drunk driver in London, Ontario. His neck was broken leaving him a quadriplegic: “After my accident, I didn’t feel like I’d ever be able to dive again.”

But then a friend told Mitchell about the Handicap Scuba Association, or HSA for short. Mitchell is the first person with a disability to get certified as an advanced scuba diver at the new HSA centre in St. Catharines.

HSA training has been available to people in 45 countries around the world but just recently an hsa training program for the disabled was launched in Ontario for the first time.

Marilyn rundle is part of the team that helped mitchell get his advanced scuba certification. “Just try! Take that leap of faith. To see Mitch it’s incredible, just incredible to see him get out of that chair into scuba gear.”

Felicia Kostecki is an HSA Program Director: “Seeing that person come back to life underwater and become that diver again, how do you not just love that!!”

Mitchell: “It adds so much freedom to one’s life to be underwater. It’s a whole other world and you’ll only really realize that when you’re there.”

Mitchell says it’s amazing he’s able to scuba dive again. He was a junior scuba diver and was very interested in diving because his grandfather was also a diver.

If you’re interested in learning more about how and where Mitchell was trained, you can visit www.adventurescuba.ca