Post by L Roebuck on Jun 15, 2006 8:27:10 GMT -5
Teen saves older brother after free-diving mishap
By CHAD PILSTER
Staff Writer
ORANGE CITY -- Free diving is a dangerous hobby the Smith brothers have plunged into since childhood.
But their latest dive sans scuba gear nearly proved deadly Wednesday afternoon inside the cavernous Blue Spring when 17-year-old Taylor Smith gulped a pocket of air while venturing through the spring, his 15-year-old brother Wesley said.
On his way back up, Taylor passed out, forcing Wesley and buddy Brian Cummings, 17, to drag him out of the water with the help of other divers.
One diver, John Koehler, saw Taylor coughing up blood.
"He couldn't stand up -- he couldn't remember what happened," said Koehler, 64, who lives in The Villages near Lake County. "We tried to get him up and he fell back down."
Wesley then performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on his brother, a lifesaving technique he learned from his mother, who is also certified in CPR.
"I don't know what I'd do without my brother," Wesley said.
Taylor was conscious as he was loaded onto a sheriff's helicopter and flown to Florida Hospital Orlando, where he was put in a decompression chamber for several hours, his father said in a telephone interview.
"My wife (Diana) is there, and she says he'll be fine," Taylor's father Cameron Smith said. "He'll probably be kept overnight for observation."
Wesley said he and Taylor have been diving since they were 5 and 6, respectively. Their parents knew their sons free-dived, their father said.
"(We're all) very experienced divers," Cameron Smith said. "We all have advanced scuba certifications."
Water that feeds Blue Spring gushes from a cave 120 feet into the earth's interior. The cave is one of the few such sites in the area open to scuba and free divers, and it's a popular site.
Full Article: www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newWEST01061506.htm
By CHAD PILSTER
Staff Writer
ORANGE CITY -- Free diving is a dangerous hobby the Smith brothers have plunged into since childhood.
But their latest dive sans scuba gear nearly proved deadly Wednesday afternoon inside the cavernous Blue Spring when 17-year-old Taylor Smith gulped a pocket of air while venturing through the spring, his 15-year-old brother Wesley said.
On his way back up, Taylor passed out, forcing Wesley and buddy Brian Cummings, 17, to drag him out of the water with the help of other divers.
One diver, John Koehler, saw Taylor coughing up blood.
"He couldn't stand up -- he couldn't remember what happened," said Koehler, 64, who lives in The Villages near Lake County. "We tried to get him up and he fell back down."
Wesley then performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on his brother, a lifesaving technique he learned from his mother, who is also certified in CPR.
"I don't know what I'd do without my brother," Wesley said.
Taylor was conscious as he was loaded onto a sheriff's helicopter and flown to Florida Hospital Orlando, where he was put in a decompression chamber for several hours, his father said in a telephone interview.
"My wife (Diana) is there, and she says he'll be fine," Taylor's father Cameron Smith said. "He'll probably be kept overnight for observation."
Wesley said he and Taylor have been diving since they were 5 and 6, respectively. Their parents knew their sons free-dived, their father said.
"(We're all) very experienced divers," Cameron Smith said. "We all have advanced scuba certifications."
Water that feeds Blue Spring gushes from a cave 120 feet into the earth's interior. The cave is one of the few such sites in the area open to scuba and free divers, and it's a popular site.
Full Article: www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newWEST01061506.htm