Utah-based nonprofit helps paralyzed Idaho man become certified scuba diver

MIDWAY, Utah (KSL.com) — Nathan Ogden broke his neck in a ski accident in his 20s, resulting in lost feeling and an inability to move his legs and feet.

A hospital visit for pneumonia a year later, after he started to regain some feeling in the lower half of his body, led to an unconscious fall off an X-ray table that caused another break in his neck. This time, he was permanently paralyzed from the waist down with limited control of his hands.

Ogden, who lives in Boise, believes most people in his situation would have given up on life or at least felt unsure of how to move forward. He is not one of those people.

“After the first break, when I started to get some feeling back, I just knew I was going to walk again,” Ogden said. “The second break … I knew I wouldn’t. But I also knew this was not going to make me not live my life. Let’s just say, I’m not into extreme sports, but I do like adventure. That’s where I focused.”

After the second accident and some ensuing hardships, Ogden founded a nonprofit — Chair the Hope — that helps get wheelchairs to children who need them outside of the United States. He also became a corporate trainer and got into public speaking.

But, in 2022, after a BYU-sponsored trip to the Bahamas, Ogden’s love of adventure led to a love of scuba diving.

With the help of a “buddy” to keep him safe in the water, Ogden said he began to feel free. He also knew that most people — regardless of physical ability — do not get to enjoy scuba diving with their families in the pool, let alone in the Caribbean Sea.

It was then that he decided to have more control over his adventures in the ocean: He wanted to become a certified scuba diver. But there was a problem. There was no adaptive scuba diving certification program in Idaho. Luckily for him and his family, there was one relatively close — in Provo.

Just Breathe Adaptive is a nonprofit organization that aims to help people with disabilities participate in more recreational activities. It also trains people to be adaptive scuba diving buddies. The agency was founded two years ago, just in time to get a phone call from Ogden, wondering whether it could help him get certified.

It could, and he began the process, which culminated Friday at the Homestead Crater in Midway.

“Nathan is courageous. He’s brave. He’s generous, he’s adventurous … he’s willing to try anything,” said Robin Knight, founder at Just Breathe Adaptive. “The hardest part is to convince somebody who has maybe spent their whole life in a wheelchair that this is an option for them. It’s actually very recreational, very safe.”

Beneath a 55-foot-tall limestone rock, in the 93-degree water of the crater on Friday morning, Ogden worked with a couple of buddies as he completed all that was needed to achieve his certification. His wife and daughter were not too far away, also completing their scuba diving certification process. For them, the best part about all of Nathan Ogden’s adventures is that they can be together.

Even if it can be a little nerve-wracking for Ogden’s wife, Heather.

“Yeah, he’s crazy adventurous. Our whole family is that way,” said Heather Ogden. “I’m the one that worries about his limitations. I’m the most stressed out of the entire family. But I love being able to see him do these things.”

Nathan Ogden also hopes to show others — with any disability, or what he calls “different-ability” — that he does not have to be out in the sea’s waters alone. Anyone is welcome to join him by getting certified and finding a new hobby.

“I want to let everyone with a ‘different-ability’ know that they can do this. It’s about the memories, the memories you create,” he said. “They’re the only things we can take with us.”

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