In the spring of 1987 I took my 11 year old daughter on a vacation to the Caribbean to go scuba diving. She was certified a few months earlier, being the youngest certified scuba diver in the USA. We had a wonderful week diving shortly after her certification and the other divers said my daughter’s diving skills were excellent. On the 4th day it was very windy and the water was rough and choppy so we couldn’t dive at our usual area but went to another dive shop on the other side of the island. There was a calm area and we joined a
group. I stated that I like going down and up the anchor line for safety and the dive master agreed. We descended and had a wonderful dive.
When it was time to ascend, the dive master had us come up without the anchor line. I should have signaled to him, insisting on the anchor. We followed the others up slowly for safety and the water started getting choppy, pulling us up a bit faster than we intended. Back on the boat everything seemed ok, except for the fact that my daughter
was a bit tired.
Later at dinner she didn’t eat very much. We decided to spend the evening relaxing in our hotel room. We went to bed early and for some unknown reason I slept in the same bed with her. In the middle of the night I woke and felt her body stiff next to me. I turned on the light and found she was having a seizure. My girlfriend was on the trip also in the room and stayed with my daughter while I ran out, knocking on doors to get help. The dive master was next door and came to my room. My daughter was unconscious. He revived her and the ambulance came. She was taken to the hospital and x-rayed and I was told she had a lung embolism and it was a miracle she was alive. She also had the bends and needed a decompression chamber ASAP as she could pass away at any moment. A small plane took us and a medical technician to a nearby island that had a hospital with a chamber. I sat in the copilot seat barely breathing, filled with fear. The pilot, a beautiful young blonde woman, took my hand and said “Don’t give into worry, visualize your daughter well, happy and doing the things she loves and that she is protected by angels.”
I felt a strong presence come within me. This was the first time I had ever heard about visualizing and positive thinking and I really felt an angelic presence. The treatment in the chamber took 18 hours and I was told her lungs could collapse at any moment and the OR was ready for her if this happened. I held steady in my visualization never doubting for a second that she would survive this. She was such a brave girl throughout the whole time. She did survive and the experience started me on my spiritual journey. I have felt the
presence of angels around me ever since and have had many other experiences. I am forever thankful.
