Up next in 10
Imagine realizing something is critically wrong with your body, but finding yourself unable to say the words "I need help."
That is exactly what happened to my guest today after a standard 60-meter technical dive. As her symptoms spiraled—from increasing pain to deteriorating vision—she found herself in a psychological trap, keeping it a secret from the rest of the boat.
Fran joins me to discuss exactly how the events unfolded, and crucially, she opens up about why she felt unable to speak up when it mattered most.
In this interview, we analyze the onset of Decompression Sickness (DCS), commonly known as "The Bends," and the dangerous psychological phenomenon of denial in technical diving. We cover the specific symptoms she ignored, the medical consequences of delaying treatment, and the lessons every diver needs to hear about safety and communication.
⚓️ Topics Covered:
* Decompression Sickness (DCS) symptoms and warning signs
* The psychology of denial in scuba diving
* Technical diving safety at 60m depth
* Vision loss and neurological DCS
* Why divers hide their injuries
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THANKS
Many thanks to
👉 Fran Iosue for having the courage to speak of her experience
👉 Leigh Bishop for his video of Fran
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0:00
I remember grabbing my buddy's arm and saying, "I can't see. I can't see." And
0:05
I was I was panicking. I was really panicking. Imagine realizing something is
0:10
critically wrong with your body, but finding yourself unable to say the words, "I need help.
0:19
I'm really scared. I can't breathe." That's exactly what happened to my guest
0:24
today after a fairly standard 60 m technical dive.
0:29
As her symptoms spiraled from pain to deteriorating vision, she found herself
0:36
in a psychological trap and kept this a secret from the rest of the team.
0:42
And I just sort of whispered to him, "I think I'm vent." Fran joins me today to discuss how
0:49
events unfolded and crucially why she felt unable to speak up when it mattered
0:56
the most. It was back in July 2024.
1:02
We were doing a dive to a wreck called the Oustral Bush um Darkstar and it was
1:09
my like inaugural dive on the boat. I've been trying to dive with you guys because obviously you were there Dom and
1:15
I've been trying to dive with you guys for well I say trying I've been wanting to dive with you guys for you know
1:21
probably a good couple of years at least because I saw the kind of expeditions you did and it's the kind of diving that
1:28
uh really interests me to do you know unknown marks virgin shipwrecks and stuff like that day it was a bit
1:35
unfortunate we I think we had a different plan to go and dive an unknown wreck in a different mark but I know
1:41
that the boat had engine trouble that day. So, the skipper said, "We we we'll
1:46
just go. He'll take us out still, but it'll be to a wreck that's too far offshore because doesn't want to get
1:52
stuck out there." So, which kind of is probably a good thing in this scenario that we didn't have such a massive boat
1:57
ride back to the harbor. Did the dive, everything was fine. Great dive. I'd
2:02
never done the ostral bush before. I know you've done it several times, haven't you? I have. If I remember right, I think it
2:09
was about 60 odd meters to the seabeds and the um the visibility that day was incredible. I think we had probably at
2:15
least 25 m v. You could see a huge part of the wreck. It was very clear water. I
2:22
remember, you know, there being a nice sort of engine and boilers and lots to look at. I do also remember that there
2:29
was quite a lot of bike catch that had been discarded by fishermen. I can only
2:34
assume that was actually quite sad. I I remember seeing actually a blue shark and you know some the sort of cat sharks
2:42
and rays and that they'd all been discarded and there were just hundreds of them all over the sea floor. It was
2:48
it was really quite sad to see. So that kind of sticks with me for that dive even though the dive itself and the
2:54
wreck was a really nice dive. I do remember that part which was a bit sad. And I did manage to free a spider crab
3:02
that was heavily caught in some monofilament fishing line. Yeah, I feel
3:07
guilty if I swim past a lobster or a crab that's that's caught in some line,
3:12
you know, some ghost gear and knowing that if I don't free it, it's just going to die. So, you know, so yeah, I managed
3:18
to do that as well. 60 odd meters spending my precious bottom time, about 5 minutes of it freeing this crab. But
3:24
anyway, yeah, it was it was a great dive. There was nothing that went wrong, you know. It was um yeah, it was great.
3:31
fairly square profile dive and my ascent I thought was more or less textbook. No
3:37
rapid ascent. I followed all my stops. Um you can see from my dive profile I I
3:43
try to so part of my training when I when I did my int uh mod 2 mod 3 course
3:50
I was actually taught about not doing you know trying to keep my decco profile as smooth um as possible so that it's
3:58
not stepped was part of my training. So that's what I I try to do on my dives came out from the dive and we got picked
4:05
up by the boat. So anyone that has dived off of hard boats, especially in the UK,
4:11
um they have lifts on the back of them, which is great, especially when you've got all this kit rebreathers and
4:17
bailouts and stuff. And Skipper came to pick me and my buddy up. But what I
4:22
didn't realize was we were still quite close to the deco trapeze that had been
4:27
set up. And because there was a bit of a swell that day and a bit of wind when the skipper came in, he was a little bit
4:34
too close for comfort to that because there were divers still on the line. We grabbed hold of the rope on the side of
4:40
the boat and start making our way to the lift and the skipper had like what we should have done was let go. let go as
4:47
soon as we felt the boat not stopping, but the boat was going at a little bit of speed and it dragged us. And for some
4:54
reason, I just held onto the rope and I didn't want to let go. I only dragged us about maybe 10 m, but I think that's
5:02
probably the reason for why my day turned out to be such a really quite
5:07
awful day after that. So, so, so you felt that maybe that was I mean they talk about shunts quite a
5:13
lot, don't they, with decompression? Um, so you feel that that you know that what happened there was that that exertion
5:19
maybe created a shunt with you? Yeah, absolutely. I 100% I think because
5:25
although there was a swell, there is a video of me getting on the lift and being brought up. Can see a bit of the
5:30
swell in the background. It wasn't a horrific swell, but it does always make it bit more difficult getting on the
5:36
lift, especially when you're carrying all this equipment. It was that effort to stay hung onto the rope. And I don't
5:43
know why we we should have just let go and let the skipper come back around and pick us up. Anyway, got back on the
5:49
boat, everything was fine. Everyone was buzzing. We'd all had a great dive. You know, I sat down, took my gear off, and
5:56
then I think we all went, it was a, you know, it was quite a warm day. And, you know, UK divers are in dry suits with
6:04
usually black thermals. So, I think we all ended up in the wheelhouse and we were having our lunch and I'd taken my
6:11
dry suit off, but I still had my base layers on and I was sat there eating my lunch. Everything was fine. And then
6:17
after about probably 15 minutes, I started to get a really itchy chest.
6:24
You know, timelines are really important, aren't they? And they're really interesting. So, so just to be clear, this is 15 minutes after you got
6:30
out the water or 15 minutes after you got out dry. Sorry. Um, I would say from me getting
6:36
out of the water to me eating my lunch and starting to realize I've got an itchy chest. I think that was probably
6:41
about 25 minutes. 20 25 minutes, something like that. I started to get an itchy chest. At first, I didn't think
6:47
anything of it. I just thought, well, I'm quite hot. I've just been in my dry suit. And then within 10 minutes of that
6:54
itching starting, I got a pain that started to shoot right down the side of
6:59
like right along my chest and down down my side. Which which side? Left side, right side
7:04
was if I remember right, it was my right side. I immediately in my head I knew what this was and I knew that it was a I
7:13
knew that I had a bend because this isn't the first time I've had a bend. The reason why I wanted to talk to you
7:21
about this today, Dom, is because I know I'm not the only one that's done this. I have several friends and others in the
7:28
diving community that I know have had bends and they have not, for whatever their own reasons, have not admitted it,
7:37
either to themselves or or to people on the boat, whether it be any of the other
7:42
divers or or the crew. I just want to raise the importance of why it you
7:49
really should make make a point of you know if you are bent you need to tell
7:54
someone you need to tell someone at least you know you're absolutely right I think there's lots of other people who have
8:00
been in exactly the same position and have done what I think you're about to
8:05
you're about to tell us obviously I started getting the pain I knew in my mind so I wasn't in denial in
8:12
the fact that I knew I was bent So, in my head, I was going, "Oh my god, I'm bent. Oh, Christ's sake." Again. But
8:19
from times where I've been had what I would say is very minor skin bends in
8:25
the past, my mindset was I'm just going to monitor this. I'm going to monitor it
8:30
on myself. I'm not going to tell anyone. I'm not going to make a big deal out of it or big drama. I'm not going to jump on O2 just yet. I'm I'm just going to
8:38
see how it goes, how how it manifests. Because as I say, I've had bends in the past that I would have considered to
8:44
been really quite minor. I mean, one of them in the past, I didn't even realize I had this bend. It was only it was only
8:51
luck that I managed to touch that area and I went, "Oh, that feels a bit bruised." And then suddenly the bruise
8:57
had moved to a different area and I went, "Oh, I know what that is." Um, but if I'd not touched that area, I
9:03
would not have known. But on this particular day anyway, so I had the pain
9:10
and I was like, "Right, I'm going to monitor this. I I finished my lunch and I go outside to get some fresh air."
9:15
Probably mistakenly at this point, I started messing around with cylinders, like moving bailouts and taking my
9:21
cylinders off because we were meant to be diving the next day doing even deeper dive. I just remember thinking, "Oh, you
9:29
know, I've been wanting to dive on this boat with these guys for a long time. I've got this opportunity. I can't have
9:35
this happen now. Why is this happening now? And I think the movement, me picking up heavy cylinders, moving
9:42
things around exacerbated the bend. My buddy came out at this point and I
9:48
remember saying to him, "Come, come to the come to the stern of the boat a circ." And I just sort of whispered to
9:53
him and I went, "I think I'm bent. Um, I think it's going to be it's it's getting
9:59
worse because at this point as well, my breathing was starting to be affected in
10:05
that I could feel my chest my chest starting to get tight. I've never had that before and it did worry me slightly
10:12
and that's why at that point I told my buddy and I said I think I might have a bend. I knew that we had a cylinder in
10:21
our car of 100% oxygen. So, at this point, I'm still in the mindset of I'm
10:27
not telling anyone else yet. I'm not telling anyone else on the boat that I'm bent. Honestly, I was embarrassed is is
10:34
is the honest reason. I was embarrassed. I was with all these experienced divers, been wanting to dive with you guys for a
10:40
long time. I got the opportunity. I got the invite to come out and dive and on my very first dive, I get a bend and and
10:47
I was embarrassed to admit it to other people. So, I said to my buddy, "When
10:52
this when the when the boat gets back to the harbor, let's just leave the kit and let's walk back to the car and
11:00
I'm just going to sit on that O2 for a little bit and see if it helps." I mean, just for context of people who
11:06
don't necessarily know the situation, I think it's probably worth making the point that that you weren't actually that far out when this happened. So, it
11:13
wasn't like you were miles miles away from anywhere. But I also think it's understandable why you felt the way that
11:19
you did. Obviously, you know, as somebody else who was on that boat, I guess for me, probably quite
11:25
disappointing that we obviously put out this kind of persona or or whatever it
11:31
was that that meant that you didn't feel that you could you could say it. So, you know, it's it's kind of that's it's not
11:37
great really. It was it was literally because I thought you guys I I don't
11:43
know why because I know none of you were like this. Um but I was like right well I'm the youngest person on the boat. You
11:50
guys have been diving for donkeys years at this point. I've only been diving for just over 10 years and only I think it
11:56
was just under four years on a rebreatherver at this point. And yeah I was just kind of like oh I'm never going
12:02
to be invited back on this boat again on this. I don't know why I felt that way. I just did. I was just like, oh, you
12:08
know, they're going to look So, I think it's probably worth putting out there that you have been invited back on the boat, hasn't it? So,
12:14
several times. Several times. Yeah. I've got lots of diving planned with Dark Star this year and did some last year
12:21
and Yeah. So, you know, obviously it's it's not it this was all in my head and
12:26
it is ridiculous, but I just made up this whole thing in my head that I'd be looked at as a bit like an idiot and oh,
12:33
we can't bring her anywhere. It's her first dive. She gets bent. Oh, for God's sake. That's why I just said I'm not
12:39
going to I'm not going to say anything. I'm just going to monitor and see see the situation. Anyway, unfortunately,
12:44
the boat was morowed so far away on the on the pier. It was like a really long
12:50
walk if I remember right, and the tide had gone out as well. So, we were
12:55
walking. So, I remember saying to my buddy, "Let's just get back to the car." And at this point, my breathing had got
13:02
quite bad in that every time I took a breath in, I started coughing. And I thought, no, in my head, I was
13:09
actually really starting to panic cuz I thought, this is this is not good. And I thought, get back to the car, get back to the car, get on the O2. And in my
13:17
mind, I wanted to run to the car. I can honestly tell you, it was it was really bad. I we got off the boat and we
13:24
started walking down the pier. Um, and it was quite a long walk. And I think
13:29
maybe 2 minutes in, just out of nowhere, my eyesight went. And the only way I can
13:36
explain it is I I temporarily lost my eyesight in the I was walking down and,
13:42
you know, like the like the really old TVs when you don't have a signal, you get all the black and white dots and
13:48
like the static, you know, the static white noise. Yeah. That's literally how my eyesight, that's
13:54
what happened to my eyesight. and I couldn't see except for all of this kind of black and white blinky type whatever.
14:02
And I remember grabbing my buddy's arm and saying, "I can't see. I can't see."
14:08
And I was I was panicking. I was really panicking at this point. And he was going, "Well, do you want me to go back
14:14
to the boat and and get some help?" And I went, "No, no, I just want to go to the car."
14:20
So, I'm getting quite stressed at this point. I think my my heart rate is probably raising anyway, which is making
14:25
my breathing worse. I wanted to walk or, you know, get back to the car as fast as
14:30
I could. I physically limited to the speed of of probably an old age pensioner at this point. I couldn't see
14:36
properly. My eyesight did come back. It it like it went away, but within about I
14:42
would say a minute to a minute and a half, my eyesight started to come back and I could see again, but it was that
14:48
was really just bizarre. I mean, I'll be honest. You've got some horrendous symptoms here, Fran. You've got you've
14:54
got difficulty breathing. You've gone blind. Uh you've got all these got all the got all these pains. You know,
15:00
obviously I was there with you on the boat that day. Um I had zero idea that any of this was happening. And I kind of
15:06
wish I did cuz we could have all honestly honestly I I every time I think
15:12
of this story or I tell it to someone, I I I it does remind me of how much of an idiot I was that day. And it was just a
15:19
embarrassment. It's I think we got to be really careful about giving, you know, giving ourselves and giving other people labels. I mean
15:26
the whole point about safety systems, you know, is is that you know people don't behave the way they do because
15:32
they are idiots. You're not an idiot. You know, you felt in a particular way and and that's you know the the reason
15:38
that you made the decisions that you did. I mean, for me, you know, I've talked about incidents with different people and all those sorts of things.
15:44
And the thing that comes to me time and time and time again is divers when they
15:50
are injured normally have all these kind of pressures on them, they're worried
15:55
and all those kind of things. The moment somebody else becomes aware of it, it
16:00
the impetus is on that person to make the right decision, whether it's a buddy or a boat crew or somebody else. And I
16:08
think it's a really important lesson. Other people have to step up to the plate. Probably your buddy's getting a
16:13
bit of a hard time from me here, but other people have to step up to the plate and make the right decision for
16:18
the person who is in a very difficult place. Anyway, off my soap box. No, I think I should probably say it
16:25
this time. Um, my buddy was my boyfriend at the time. Um, my long-term boyfriend.
16:30
So, he would have been in the if he'd not listened to me. Sorry, I didn't mean to swear, but he would have been in
16:36
trouble if I if he didn't do what I said. I was kind of like sort of pleading with him. Just please do what?
16:43
And he I could see he was really genuinely worried about me. We managed to get to um where there's like, you
16:50
know, where the the gate is to get on to the pier. And at this point, because the tide had gone out, this was I I saw the
16:58
ramp and it was it was it was like that. And you want to see me going up this thing. And I just remember walking up it
17:06
literally doing granny steps. And I was holding on to the railing hand overand pulling myself up this ramp and I'm
17:13
really struggling to breathe. I just remember thinking, I hope no one bloody sees me because I must look like I don't
17:19
even know. At that point, my buddy went, I'm going to run to the car because the other problem was the car park was a bit
17:26
of a walk from the yacht haven as well. He ran to the car and and went and got
17:32
it. And I just remember thinking, "What on earth is going on?" Like, I've never
17:38
had this before. And I was scared. And I actually remember I can't remember if it was yourself. I think it might have been
17:44
I don't know if it was yourself or a couple of other divers at this point actually walked past me and were like, "You're right, Fran." And I was like,
17:50
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine."
17:55
Um, buddy pulled up in the car. I got in, I got the three liter O2 that we
18:01
were meant to use for the dive the next day and put a rag on it and I started breathing off it. And I will say, I
18:07
don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but breathing O2 off a normal scuba rag, it started to make me
18:12
feel sick. Luckily, we're in Plymouth, which is where the DDRC is based. So, we were actually really lucky in that
18:19
respect. For people who don't know, DDRC is the Diving Diseases Research Center,
18:24
which is probably the best uh recompression chamber in the UK. You're in, you know, a really good place,
18:29
aren't you? And you're really close to it. I remember saying to my buddy, I want to breathe off this O2 for a little bit.
18:35
Let's go park the car up. Let's go hide from everyone so they don't see me breathing off O2. I know it's
18:42
ridiculous. I know. I know it is. We went and hid in there and parked up in there and I'm breathing off this reg.
18:56
While he was on the phone, I was literally there. I was going, "I can't breathe off this rig. It's making me feel sick." And he was going, "All
19:02
right, all right." He spoke to one of the doctors uh at DDRC who got on the
19:08
phone. What they said was because every time I was breathing in and coughing, they were worried that I actually had
19:14
burst my lung. Even though I was panicking, I was getting a little bit sort of like annoyed. I was like, I just
19:20
want to go in the chamber. And they said, no, we need to make sure you haven't burst your lung because because of the coughing, we're concerned. So,
19:27
you need to go to A&E. As soon as they said that, I was like, oh, I'm going to die. I'm going to die because A&E is
19:34
going to be rammed and I'm going to be waiting in there for hours. and they said no, they're going to have me
19:39
triaged through. So anyway, we turned up at Deraford. We drove up to A&E and this
19:45
is another thing that that was um a bit of a mistake. I should have got out the car at that point and just took myself
19:51
into A&E, but I didn't want to be alone. I was genuinely I was really scared and I wanted my buddy, you know, my
19:57
boyfriend to stay with me. He couldn't leave the car there. We turned up at A&E and I'm not joking, there was like eight
20:04
ambulances parked out the front and I could see through the front doors of the A&E that room was so busy there were
20:12
people standing up. There was no seats left and that made me panic even more. And I and I and he went, "Do you want to
20:19
get out and just go to reception and tell them you're here?" And I said, "No, I don't want you to leave me." And he
20:24
said, "Well, I can't leave the car here." I said, "Well, let's just go park the car quickly." I didn't realize that
20:30
the private car park is up on a massive hill. We drive up the hill, find a space, and then we have to walk down all
20:36
these steps to get back to the hospital. And at this point, I'm literally I am crying at this point. I'm really scared.
20:43
I can't breathe. Um I can't walk. And now I'm starting to feel the skin bend on my stomach forming as well. Um cuz I
20:51
did have quite a big skin bend on my stomach. my my skin started going all marbly and purple and it was
20:58
I was walking down these steps and I was in tears and I was so scared. I was crying and you know one of the things
21:06
that I said as well someone I was going what if I can never dive again because I
21:11
was scared. I was like diving is everything to me. I it's my passion in life. I live for my diving and I was
21:18
genuinely scared that a doctor was going to say you can't dive again. You're having trouble in breathing. You're in
21:24
quite a lot of pain and your most important priority is can I die?
21:31
I know how ridiculous it sounds. So, we get to the bottom of the stairs. At this
21:36
point, I'm in such a state. I remember there's like a zebra cross. We And bearing in mind that the car park
21:42
doesn't take you to A&E. It takes you to the front. Like if you walk down those steps, takes you to the front of the hospital. And I'm like, well, where's
21:48
A&E? Oh, it's quite a big hospital. And I think it was round the side which meant walking even further. And I said
21:54
to my buddy at this, "I can't do it." I said, "I cannot walk any further. I I can't breathe." And I was crying. I was
22:00
hanging on to this lamp post because I literally I was in such a bad way. And this woman who was standing outside the
22:07
hospital, she come over to me. She was like, "Are you all right?" And I was like, "No." And um my buddy ran into the
22:13
hospital, found the first person with an NHS badge, and was like, "Can you help
22:19
my girlfriend? She's in a really bad way and we're trying to get to A&E but we don't know how to get there. This poor
22:25
guy ended up being a doctor who was on his lunch break. Ran out, put me in this wheelchair and thank god we found him
22:31
because he took us through what I can only describe as a maze of corridors to get to A&E. Took us through the hospital
22:38
and because he had his badge he was like swiping through all these different doors and he got us through to A&E and I
22:45
got to reception. They were expecting me. The doctor from the DDRC had turned up as well. It was quite funny at
22:51
reception. They were asking me questions like, "What's your name? What's your address?" Cuz I used to live in Tavveristock, which is not a million
22:57
miles from so they had all my old details on there. And I was I actually remember saying to the receptionist,
23:02
"This isn't important right now." Cuz she was saying my she was going, "What's your address?" And I she's going, "I've
23:08
got this on here." No, that's not my address. And I can I get your new address and details? And I went, "Can we
23:13
do that later cuz I'm really struggling to breathe here?" Triaged through into a
23:19
room and they brought out an enormous bottle of O2. Got me breathing that on
23:25
the highest setting. It was It was great cuz I was like, "A finally I'm getting some proper O2." And and then the DDRC
23:32
doctor came in. I think she was a junior doctor actually. She'd done some neurological tests with me and she said,
23:39
"You need to have a chest X-ray." And I said, "Why?" And she said, "Well,
23:44
because we want to rule out that you've got a burst lung because if you've got a burst lung, you can't go in the
23:49
chamber." And I was like, "Oh." Couldn't wrap my head around it. I was like, I the biggest worry I had at this point
23:56
was at some point I feel like I'm probably going to end up paralyzed at this rate. Like I was waiting for
24:02
something for me to not be able to feel it, like you know, my legs or something because it it got quite bad. But got me
24:09
to have a chest X-ray. It all came back fine and it all happened rather quickly and I honestly I really I really do
24:15
praise the staff at the hospital. They they were great and they were really reassuring. They were really nice to me because I was in a bit of a state at
24:22
this point. And then the the DDRC doctor said, "Right, we need to get you to the chamber now." My buddy ran and got the
24:28
car. She said, and he said, "I'm going to drive to a and pick both of you up." Because the DDRC, I didn't realize uh
24:34
was literally around the corner from the hospital, which was really handy. uh put in the chamber I think if I remember
24:41
right I think it was like 5 hours I was in the chamber or something at the point where I'd been on O2 and everything and
24:46
when I got in the chamber after about 20 minutes I started to feel fine my
24:52
breathing was normal my skin bend was still there it was still sore but the
24:57
the marbling of my skin had died down and everything and I thought that the minute we get into the DDRC they'd be
25:04
like oh my god get in the chamber quick I remember just being put in a room and doing more tests and being put on more
25:11
O2 and having to fill out paperwork and I was like so so that is really common by the way
25:16
everybody I've ever spoken to who's been in the chamber has expected this kind of blue light thing where they get they get
25:22
whooed through and thrown in the chamber instantly and you speak to everybody everybody I've spoken to who's
25:28
been in the chamber says exactly the same as yourself which is that you end up spending quite a long time a lot
25:34
longer than you think sat around waiting to go in and And the longer I sat there like filling out paperwork, I thought, well,
25:41
it can't be that bad then because they're not acting like this is like life or death right now. Um, so I don't
25:48
know. I just wasn't familiar with the process. Like as I say, I just thought you'd just get rushed straight in. From
25:55
the time we got back to the harbor, which I think I can't remember if you remember, Dom, I think it might have been like around 2 or 3:00 in the
26:01
afternoon. I came out the chamber and it was like gone 2:00 in the morning, put it that way. I was really tired. They
26:08
wouldn't let me sleep in the chamber either. I kept saying to him, "I'm really tired. Can I have a nap?" And the
26:14
guy who was in the He said, "No." I said, "Why not?" He said, "Because then I won't be able to tell if you're actually sleeping or if you've died,"
26:22
which I guess is fair. So, I've just looked at your dive log, by the way. We got out of the water at 20 or you got
26:27
out of the water at 20 to 4 on the assumption that your uh your the clock and your sheer water is right. So, um
26:33
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember cuz everyone so I remember going to the chamber and my buddy I said to him I was
26:39
like well I don't expect you he can't come in the chamber and I don't expect you to wait around. I said you know everyone's gone to the pub just go to
26:46
the pub. So, I think he went back to Mount Batton and had a drink with with a
26:51
few of you guys and and yeah, and that's when he told the skipper what was going
26:57
on and and told people in the group and um you know, when I got out the chamber
27:03
and he he was there and he come to pick me up, he he told me that, you know, everyone was gen no there was nothing
27:10
about anyone going, "Oh, for God's sake," or everyone was generally really worried and concerned. and they just
27:15
wanted to make sure I was okay. And um you know he did say the skipper did say
27:21
you know why didn't you just tell him what you know just just and I said because I don't want all the dramatics
27:27
of the coast guard being called and ambulances turning up and everyone
27:32
scurrying to find O2 you know I just didn't want to be a burden in a way and
27:38
also because of the whole I thought that I would never be invited back again after this and if anything I'd be less
27:45
likely to be invited back because I'd hidden it, you know, I wasn't honest with people. But the point is it was
27:52
fine and it worked out. But when I was at the DDRC, they did say, "Have you had a bend before?" And I said, I had to be
28:00
honest then. I said, "Yeah, I've had a I've had a few very very They were very minor skin bends and very spaced out
28:07
over the whole time I've been diving." I always put them down to and this is
28:12
comes into the denial thing. Whenever I'd had a little skin bend in the past, I tell myself, "Oh, well, I'm
28:19
dehydrated. Oh, I didn't get enough sleep. Oh, maybe I just did a bit too much work on that dive." Which,
28:24
ironically, obviously feeds into the fact that I was later diagnosed with a PFO.
28:30
So, so how many treatments did you have, by the way? Did you just have the one or did you have more? No, I only had the one. And the only
28:36
thing I remember is the next day my stomach was really sore but um the doctor said that was just from the skin
28:43
bend where it had actually damaged a lot of like my cells and that but um within a day it was fine. All your other
28:49
symptoms had gone though at that point had they yeah by the time I got into the chamber I felt fine and I actually remember
28:55
saying do I have to do this now cuz I feel fine and they were like yeah you have to do it like so yeah they said
29:02
because you've had bends in the past and because this has been a particular nasty bend you need we recommend you go and
29:09
get a PFO check. So, at this point, I've heard of PFOS. You know, it was when
29:15
I've done my diver training, there's a mention of PFOS, but it doesn't go into big detail about them. So, I I knew of
29:22
them, but I didn't really understand what it was or anything. I know that a few divers of my of like friends of mine
29:29
and that had had PFOS in the past and, you know, had them fixed or they just stopped diving or whatever. The DDRC
29:36
didn't make any recommendations on who to go to. They just said you need to go to someone that can perform a a bubble
29:42
echo cardiogram on you to see if you've got a PFO. Got quite a few
29:47
recommendations for a particular cardiologist um Dr. Mark Turner who's based in Bristol and he's like a
29:54
household name amongst divers and people that have had PFOs and stuff. So booked
30:00
a echo cardio a bubble echo cardiogram with him. Interestingly, when I had that
30:05
scan, he actually couldn't determine if I had a PFO or not. It didn't show up
30:10
clearly on on the screen well enough for him to say, "Yep, there's there's your PFO." Because I suffer with migraines,
30:19
uh, migraine headaches where I get the aura as well, you know, where it affects my eyesight. It's the same sort of thing
30:24
as what happened to me the day I got bent. It's just that that was tfold compared to what I normally get. If I
30:29
get a migraine, I usually get one eye that's affected. I get patches where I
30:35
can't see out of my eye. Migraines have been linked to PFOs. And because of that, I remember Mark saying to me, I'm
30:43
not convinced that you don't have a PFO because of the kind of bend you had and the fact you get migraines. So, I like I
30:51
would recommend that come back for a procedure known as a TOE. and that would
30:56
determine for for sure if I definitely had a PFO or not, which obviously it
31:01
did. So, for people who don't know, the normal um test that you had, the the bubble test is just with a very similar
31:09
sort of thing to the one that they use for doing pregnancy tests and and those kind of things, isn't it? You know, they
31:15
it literally stick it on your chest. It's an ultrasound on your chest. Yeah. Um so it's the same same technology but
31:22
then you have um bubbles uh pumped into your blood build up a load of pressure in your chest and then you release it
31:29
and while they've got the probe on your chest to see if they can see those bubbles that were put into your system
31:35
if they've gone from one side of your heart to the other which would be through the PFO but because we couldn't
31:40
see that I had transophagical echocardiogram you have to go under general anesthetic for it and they put
31:47
the the ultrasound probe probe basically goes they put it down your esophagus and
31:53
the probe goes behind it they sit the probe behind your heart because it's much closer that way and they can tell
31:59
from that whether you definitely have a PFO and I remember coming around from the anesthetic being wheeled out of the
32:05
room out of the theater and um I had the anesthesiologist was was walking next to
32:11
me and I woke up the first thing I said was have I got a PFO
32:16
and he went he went yeah the doctor will come and talk to you. But yeah, you have I just remember feeling a little bit sad
32:23
if I'm honest when when he said that because I knew now that it meant for me to carry on the diving that I'm doing,
32:29
I'm either going to have to have it fixed or I'm going to have to limit the kind of diving that I do. And to me, I
32:36
love technical diving. It's not about the depths. It's just, you know, I'm not
32:42
like a a depth junkie as such, but you know, the the deeper wrecks tend to be
32:47
more intact, more interesting. Wreck diving is my passion, and I knew that if I didn't get my PFO fixed, then I I
32:55
there's just no chance that I could safely carry on that diving knowing what I know now. It obviously highlighted the
33:02
fact that all the minor bends I've had in the past could pretty much be attributed to this PFO. My advice to
33:10
anyone that's been bent, whether it's recreational or technical diving, I would say go and get a test and I would
33:17
also suggest about private medical insurance because PFOs will not be fixed
33:23
on the NHS unless under very special circumstances. All in all, with all the scans I had, the TOE, the PFO um fix and
33:33
everything, I think I think the bill came to about just shy of £23,000.
33:38
I was really lucky that I worked for a company where I get private medical
33:43
insurance with ber through them and that's how I managed to make my claim. Had I not had that insurance, I would
33:50
have been faced with two options of either taking out a massive loan to pay for it or just having to accept that I
33:57
can't do that kind of diving anymore if I can't afford the operation. So that is my advice in in in conjunction to don't
34:05
hide the fact that you're bent from people is if you have been bent, please
34:10
just get checked out because if it is a PFO, it's a it's a I don't want to say a
34:15
simple fix, but it's a procedure that's really commonly done. it can be fixed and and that bend that I had l luck ran
34:24
out over I think the 12 years at that point that I'd been diving I'd had maybe
34:30
I think it was four or five very minor skin bends one of which my first ever
34:35
one used to say I don't know to this day if it was a bend I'm now convinced it was I was on a holiday in MadiRaa it was
34:42
the very first day of diving that we so we did two dives and this was recreational diving single cylinder
34:49
nitrox 30 m max no deco did two dives that day and we so we walked into the
34:56
old town of MadiRaa from our hotel had dinner and I was fine and then walking
35:01
home my shoulder really started to ache I was walking along and I was sort of
35:06
like going oh this is like really sore it was only when we got back to the hotel that I went oh my god I've been
35:13
diving today and we're told about aches and pains in your joint that's when I went into denial though, and this was a
35:20
genuine denial of I can't be bent. How can I be bent? After two recreational
35:25
dives with no decompression, I was on nitrox. They weren't hard dives. They were really easy. Blah blah blah. And I
35:32
was in I was like, "No, it can't be a bend. It can't be a bend." And um I went to bed that night going, "No, I've just
35:38
pulled a muscle or something there." You know, and I woke up at just after midnight in horrendous pain with my
35:44
shoulder. And I did start to worry. Then I started googling my symptoms. This is
35:50
this all comes down to I'm not going to admit to anyone yet, you know, because I was on holiday. It was my first day of
35:57
diving. I'd only been there for two days. And I knew that if I had told people that I was bent, well, for a
36:04
start, I wouldn't be allowed to dive for the rest of the trip. It does come down to you've just spent all this money on a
36:11
diving trip and then you can't dive and you know you've been excited about this holiday and blah blah blah. And I know
36:18
that I'm not the only one that has has done things like this. It is stupid. Like anyone watching this video could
36:25
say, "Well, that's just ridiculous." And yes, it is. But then I would go as far
36:30
as saying, "But we all do things that we know." I say all, but a lot of people do
36:36
things that we know harms our health. And that could be like smoking, drinking
36:42
excessively, taking drugs, eating ultrarocessed foods. Why do we do it? We
36:48
know it's going to harm our health, but we do it anyway. And for me, I knew that
36:53
if I was bent, this could harm my health, but I just I had other reasons why I'm going to carry on just denying
36:59
it and whatever. But it got so bad that I ended up I did phone and they said you
37:05
need to go to the chamber in MadiRaa. Apparently it's in the public hospital. I had a really weird experience about
37:12
this. And I I do wonder if this is partly why I also the other Benz I've had since then I've just not done
37:19
anything about. If I just act like it's not there then it will just go away on its own. And that that was my mindset
37:24
for the other bends because I I didn't have a very good experience when I did try and seek treatment for this
37:30
particular bend. When I got to the hospital, it was a private hospital that I've been sent to and they did
37:36
neurological tests and stuff. And I just kept saying, "Can I just please be put on O2 to see if my symptoms subside and
37:43
they were like, "No, no, we we need to do these tests on you, blah, blah, blah." And I'm bearing in mind I'm in a
37:48
strange c country. My friends were in bed. I couldn't get hold of them. I didn't know what rooms they were in. So,
37:53
I was in this hospital on my own and I was really quite worried. They put me on a potassium drip for like an hour and I
38:01
still wasn't on O2. And this is what I mean. It was such a weird experience and I just kept saying to them, "Can I just
38:07
have some O2, please?" And they were like, "No, no." And then some paramedics turned up with an ambulance to take me
38:13
to the public hospital where they went, "Right, we're going to get you in the chamber now." got into the hospital and
38:18
a nurse came and put a canula in my hand, which I also thought was really weird if I'm going in a chamber. I
38:24
thought, why do I need a canula in my hand? And I was sat in the waiting room at this public hospital on my own for 45
38:31
minutes and I got, you know, at this point it was like, I think it was nearly 4:00 in the morning. I was so tired. Um,
38:38
the pain in my shoulder had completely gone. It was like there was nothing there. I felt absolutely fine. And I was
38:44
getting quite angry that I was just being sat there. I had no idea what was going on. And I went up to a nurse and I
38:50
said, "Um, what's happening? Am I going in the chamber or not?" "Yes, yes, yes, but we've only got one doctor here and
38:56
he's got to see to like 50 patients or something." And I said, "Look, I feel fine. Do you know what? Can you just
39:03
take this canula out my hand? I'm going to go back to my hotel, go to bed." And that's what I did. I just thought,
39:10
"No, I feel fine now." I don't know if that was a bend or not, but if it was, it's gone. I'm going to carry on diving
39:16
for the rest of my holiday. And that's what I did. And I had no problems. I will say I had no problems after that.
39:21
And then the next bend I ever got was ironically must have been about 4 years
39:27
later when I started doing like deep sort of long deco diving. But that was the one and only ever recreational dive
39:35
where I think it was a bend. To this day, I've never had someone tell me if it was, but I do think it was. Def
39:43
definitely sounds one to me. I guess two aspects. One, you didn't have a good experience when you reported it and the second is that it, you know, went away
39:49
of its own accord. You can see how there's clear linkage between what happened then and what what happened um
39:55
you know on the dive where it obviously it all kind of came came to a head. So that's that's really interesting there.
40:01
I know some people wse and go, "Oh my god, I can't believe you did this." But I went back to bed for about 3 hours and
40:07
then I I set an alarm for 8:00 that morning because we were due to go out on a dive at 9:00. So I set an alarm at
40:14
8:00, got up, went and had breakfast in the hotel and my friends came down and I
40:20
went, "Well, I was in the hospital last night." And they were like, "What?" And I said, "Well, I don't know if I was."
40:26
And this I was generally I was honest with him. I said, "I don't know if I was bent or not, but they never seemed to
40:31
rush to put me in a chamber. They never put me on O2. They just put me on a weird potassium drip. They said it was.
40:37
And yeah. And I said, "But I feel fine now." So, and and they were like, "Are you sure you want to go diving?" I went,
40:42
"Yeah, I'm here to dive. Otherwise, I might as well go home." So, they were like, "Okay." You know, and I could see
40:49
that they were a bit, but it was my decision at the end of the day. And I was like, "No, I I've spent a lot of
40:55
money coming on this holiday. I want to go diving. It's what I love." So, yeah. And I had some great diving that week
41:01
and I had no other issues. My my shoulder pain never came back. I never got pain anywhere else. In the years
41:07
that followed, I have had a couple of very minor skin bends. I knew they were
41:12
bends. I knew they were when it happened, but I had this mindset of if I
41:17
just ignore it, it will go away. And to be honest, that you did ignore them and I guess they did go away.
41:24
Go away. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously, I make myself sound like so I say I wasn't ignoring them in my mind. And you know,
41:30
I was monitoring them in myself. I was thinking if these get any worse, but they always after a few hours, they
41:37
subsided to the point where they weren't there anymore. Having gone through what I went through that dive that we did
41:43
back in that July, it has taught me a huge lesson. Your luck will run out one
41:49
day if you keep if especially if you've had multiple small bends and you don't
41:54
do anything about it or you don't get you don't seek proper treatment. um, one
42:00
day your luck will run out. I'm sure a lot of people will be critical of the past decisions I made, but that's why
42:06
I'm here to talk about it because I want people to learn from my experience of if
42:11
you're watching this video and you've done exactly what I've done where you've been bent, you know you are in your
42:18
mind, but you just don't want to admit it to anyone else because you're you don't want the dramatics that come after
42:23
it. You you really are taking a real gamble. And I think any um caring human being
42:31
that's on a boat with you, they would rather you get help than you sit there and hide it. I had my PFO fixed in uh
42:39
January last year. So January 25, I started again in May cuz I was signed off for diving. Last year I've had no
42:47
issues touchwood. Did several technical trips, did dives in excess of 70 odd meters and I've had no issues. And
42:54
another thing I've been focusing on is trying to focus on my own health because fitness is really important for diving,
43:00
especially technical diving. So, I've been really throwing myself into the gym and because these are also risk factors
43:07
as well. So, I I just really hope this this um video reaches out to people to
43:13
let them know that if you've done what I've done, you are not on your own. There's a lot of divers that have done
43:19
what I've done. I know a few of them personally. Um, and we talk about our stories and stuff. It's your personal
43:26
choice at the end of the day. If you go diving and you get bent, nobody can make you own up to it unless it's really
43:33
quite obvious that you're bent. Like if someone is unconscious or that you've spotted they've got a skin bend or their
43:39
arms inflated like Elephant Man or something. cuz I've I've had um friends who have had like lymphatic bends and
43:46
like you know parts of their bodies have blown up to like twice the size they should be and you know um yeah so and
43:54
amazingly I the the whole scenario and everything I've gone through with all
44:00
the PFO diagnosis I came I I honestly had no idea how common PFOs are. I
44:07
probably got over 700 dives under my belt. I've been diving on a rebreather for nearly 5 years now and um I've done
44:14
countless technical dives in excess of 90 odd meters. For the majority of those
44:20
dives, I never got bent. It's just one of those things where one day your luck will run out. And that's why I really
44:26
think if you've had a bend in the past, just please go and get a PFO check cuz it it's really not worth the risk. I
44:33
wouldn't want anyone to go through what I went through. Fran, that's absolutely fantastic. no long-term damage, that you've managed to
44:40
get the PFO fixed, and that you're back in in the water because your passion absolutely shines through. So, those are
44:46
all really good outcomes. Really pleased to hear, and really good of you as well to come on here, be so honest, being
44:53
pretty self-critical. I think your point that you hope other people will learn from it, and you know, go and do the
44:59
same. If you've got DCI, flag it up to somebody, make smart decisions. If
45:05
you've had stuff in the past, go and get a PFO check. You know, those are all really good points for the people who
45:10
are going to be listening to this. On behalf of everybody, I would just like to say thank you. I wish you all the
45:17
best for your next trip, which I think is probably going to be with me in March. So,
45:22
yeah, we shall look forward to that. Yeah. Oh, thank you very much,
#Mental Health
#Injury