I believe there are no chance meetings and in July 2021 while conducting adaptive scuba training in Cozumel, Mexico, I was on a boat with filmmaker David Marsh.
I hadn’t met David yet, but he overheard me talking with the crew about adaptive scuba and what we did at the non-profit Diveheart that I founded in 2001. David was staying at the same resort and approached me that evening when I was working on my laptop by the pool. He introduced himself and said he wanted to learn more about adaptive scuba. By the end of our conversation David was so inspired that he said he wanted to do a documentary about Diveheart.
“Awesome,” I said, noting we happen to have an adaptive dive trip in December with twelve adaptive divers, and I invited him to join us. We parted ways and I never really expected to hear from him again, but about a month later he called and seemed serious about the documentary.
He began doing back stories on each our adaptive divers and a week before the trip he had Thanksgiving dinner with his son who had just gotten out of rehab. After a wonderful loving evening, his son retired to his room, overdosed and died.
After consulting with family, David still came on the trip, didn’t tell anyone about what he was going through until the last night when the entire group goes around the room and shares their feelings about the trip. It’s a big kumbaya moment and is filled with hugs, tears of joy and new friendships.
David was the last to speak. The room went silent, filled with heavy hearts and sorrow as he spoke. The resulting documentary “Adapting to Dive” has received twelve international film festival awards.
David just finished his second Diveheart documentary called “The Legend of the Statue” and I’ve personally sponsored him to do over 50 adaptive diver profiles since 2022. Now David wants to make a feature film based on a book I wrote called “Sharing Air” with a colleague from the Chicago Tribune about a couple who meets and falls in love during scuba lessons which happens to be with a group of individuals with disabilities. He wants to film in the western suburbs and in Key Largo. He’s looking for actors, locations, supporters and a local mansion.
After all, how often do you get a chance to be in a movie?
Learn more at: https://sharingairmovie.com
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