This doesn't sound good...

[shavedheadphil]

Diver is In the chamber at Virginia Mason. His computer read 212 max depth.. looked like he ran into trouble at 175 and ascended to 24 ft where he tried to deco with 53% then switching to 99%. He routinely dives solo to these depths and is trained and experienced. Dude is fighting for his life now and its not a good time for speculating and calling names. If anyone wants up to date information on the diver feel free to contact me. The Harbor patrol has his gear and will not release it or even turn the valves on to see if it was an "out of air" situation... seems highly unlikely due to the fact that he was diving dual 100s and two deco bottles. There is no further info on what happened just info on how his recovery is coming along. He is in stable but serious condition. Thanks...

[LCF]

It is very good news that he stabilized enough to go to the chamber.

Bernie Chowdhury survived an incident like this; we can hope that this gentleman survives his.

200 feet is serious diving, and 46 minutes of deco is a lot . . . I hope we can eventually learn what kind of problem occurred at depth to make this diver decide to blow off that much deco. Whatever the problem was, I would like to avoid it, myself.

[spatman]

Winter, Phil, we're really sorry to hear about your friend's accident. Please keep us updated on his condition and let us know if you learn any more about what happened.

If there's anything we, as members and staff of NWDC can do, please don't hesitate to ask.

[H20doctor]

Hmmmmmmmmm.. Sad to hear.. Hope he makes it.. Another diver to the chamber

[gcbryan]

I hope he makes it as well (obviously)! My thought was just (in the absence of a scooter) that it is an awfully long way to get past 200 fsw at Cove 2. I realize that it's in the 300 fsw range in the middle of Elliott Bay but getting past 200 fsw there requires a lot of traveling.

Hopefully all turns out well and we learn what happened to precipitate blowing off the deco (gas loss or whatever happened).

[kdupreez]

I would imagine he didn't plan to run out of air. Perhaps he attended a gas management seminar at some point, had adequate gas and simply had a gear malfunction that was totally unrecoverable from.

We don't know what happened, and we don't really know what is going on right now... We may not agree with a persons style of diving, or their choices and risk assessment but honestly, when someone is trying to not die, and they probably have loved ones and friends reading this forum, its time to remember that they are a person and not just some random news article to throw stones at or make conjecture about survivability.

I agree, we have no idea on the details and we may not agree with the individuals choices nor can we judge their risk assessment acumen or critique their skill or experience.. It was a conscious decision that ultimately rested with the individual that made this dive.

Lets all hope he makes a recovery and can share his experience for all of us to learn from.

.

[Grateful Diver]

Do we know who the diver is, and does anybody here know him personally?

Yes ... a lot of us do. I was just talking to him a few days ago at Cove 2.

For those who don't know him, he's a very nice guy, even if he does things that I personally believe are a bit more risky than I'd choose to do. I think most of us who know him have been worried for a long time that this day was coming.

Let's just give the man some thoughts and prayers ... he has a family who loves him, and who needs our support right now.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[dwashbur]

Do we know who the diver is, and does anybody here know him personally?

Yes ... a lot of us do. I was just talking to him a few days ago at Cove 2.

For those who don't know him, he's a very nice guy, even if he does things that I personally believe are a bit more risky than I'd choose to do. I think most of us who know him have been worried for a long time that this day was coming.

Let's just give the man some thoughts and prayers ... he has a family who loves him, and who needs our support right now.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Agreed.

[shavedheadphil]

Diver is still in critical condition at virginia mason. No changes from last night. I'm trying to get permission from family to post his name. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!

[Scubak]

Do we know who the diver is, and does anybody here know him personally?

Yes ... a lot of us do. I was just talking to him a few days ago at Cove 2.

For those who don't know him, he's a very nice guy, even if he does things that I personally believe are a bit more risky than I'd choose to do. I think most of us who know him have been worried for a long time that this day was coming.

Let's just give the man some thoughts and prayers ... he has a family who loves him, and who needs our support right now.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Agreed.

All my thoughts and prayers are going out to this good guy, his family and friends. They really need our support right now.
Kirsten

[Waynne Fowler]

Thanks for the update Phil. I hope you and Lori are doing OK though all this lil' brother. Go get some sleep. Pass big hug's on to the family.

Kudos to all NWDC members for not dragging this thing down the usual road of speculation and fault finding. With some luck he will be able to drop in sometime in the future and tell us all what exactly happened. He's generally a very 'open to the public' kinda guy.
In the mean time, send prayers and dive safe.

[girldiver]

My prayers go out to this diver and his family. I've dived with him and he's a super nice guy.

If I were a rock climber, I may not want to "free climb" myself...but I also would never want to hear a "free climber" got hurt.

Quick recovery wishes...

[Scubak]

My prayers go out to this diver and his family. I've dived with him and he's a super nice guy.

If I were a rock climber, I may not want to "free climb" myself...but I also would never want to hear a "free climber" got hurt.

Quick recovery wishes...

[shavedheadphil]

So I have permission... Kirby Pollard is the diver. Everyone knows or has at least heard of him. With that being said Kelle is with him at Virginia Mason currently. She doesn't need anything right now but this might draw out for a bit. He came out of induced coma this morning and responded to Dr's and Kelle with eye brow movements before the put him back down. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers and offers to help. I'll continue to update

[ktb]

So I have permission... Kirby Pollard is the diver. Everyone knows or has at least heard of him. With that being said Kelle is with him at Virginia Mason currently. She doesn't need anything right now but this might draw out for a bit. He came out of induced coma this morning and responded to Dr's and Kelle with eye brow movements before the put him back down. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers and offers to help. I'll continue to update

Thank you for the update. Good to hear he responded!! I don't know Kirby, but my thoughts are with him and his family.

[CaptnJack]

Phil, now that's its official, please let us know if we can do anything for Kirby or his family.

[kdupreez]

Kirby is a very likable fellow, been on some boat dives with him. And ditto, anything he or his family needs, just shout!

[shavedheadphil]

Latest news on Kirby, he is showing signs of improvement. His O2 levels are rising and stabilizing. He is no longer undergoing Hyperbaric treatment but he is still in critical condition at V-M. Thanks for all the support!

[Mattleycrue76]

I'm glad to hear that Kirby's showing signs of improvement. I never had the plaesure of meeting him but here on NWdiveclub he always came across like a nice guy.

[dwashbur]

I haven't met him either, but this is very good news!

[kitsapdiver]

I don't usually post in threads about dive related accidents, but in this case I really do feel the urge to make sure that his friends on here, and his friends and family otherwise receive my prayers and best wishes. After moving to the PNW I have really come to appreciate that the dive community is a very dedicated, group of divers who stick together, and with each passing weekend at the local dive sites, as I see the same warm faces, I realize how small the community is. The diving in the PNW is like no other in the world and when a member this group is hurt doing what we all love it really hits home.

I have never met Kirby myself, but none the less my prayers, thoughts, and best wishes go out to Kirby and his family. And the hope that we all cherish our next dive, and the next post dive beer together.

[H20doctor]

I have met kirby and dove 2x with him over the last 3 years down in the south end.. I'm sad to hear that this has happend to him

[Tangfish]

Get better soon Kirby - we're all pullin' for ya.

[Scubak]

So I have permission... Kirby Pollard is the diver. Everyone knows or has at least heard of him. With that being said Kelle is with him at Virginia Mason currently. She doesn't need anything right now but this might draw out for a bit. He came out of induced coma this morning and responded to Dr's and Kelle with eye brow movements before the put him back down. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers and offers to help. I'll continue to update

Thank you for the update Phil.
Please let us know if Kelly or his family needs anything...anything at all! Do not hesitate!
Kirsten

[shavedheadphil]

Talked to the nurses this morning and Kirby has shown improvements overnight. He is still in the critical care unit. Kelle is finally getting some sleep. I'll continue to update everyone as I get news.