Peter Richards is pictured at the entrance to the hyperbaric chamber. With him are l to r top, LSCD Peter Genders and POMEDU Brett Keogh, L to r bottom, LS Jason Dwyer and PO William Denholm. Picture: ABPH Helena Charter.

A civilian diver, paralysed from the waist down by the bends, credits the RAN with "giving him back his legs" and the ability to again walk.

"The treatment and support given to me by the doctors, medics, nurses and divers at HMAS PENGUIN, along with their hyperbaric chambers, was terrific, overwhelming…" Mr Peter Richards, 33, of Manly in Sydney, said.

"I have special praise for the head of the underwater medicine team, LCDR Robyn Walker. She has been fantastic."

Mr Richards was one of three civilian divers taken to the hyperbaric unit in a week in February giving a clear example that the Australian public is receiving value for money from its RAN specialist underwater specialists and their equipment.

For Mr Richards it meant nine sessions in the chambers (the base has two) in PENGUIN.

When not in the chamber he was a patient in a ward at the Balmoral Naval Hospital.

Whenever inside the chamber he was accompanied by a skilled medic. Outside RAN divers operated the controls of the cylinders while at least one doctor supervised.

On one occasion Mr Richards spent until 2am in the chamber.

"On Saturday, February 12, I was with other divers off Long Reef," Mr Richards said.

"I descended to 47 metres on to the wrecks that lie off the reef. I have about 300 dives logged.

Of that number 250 have been at the Long Reef site.

"I staged my ascent and at three metres something went wrong. I am yet to find out what.

"I had difficulty breathing. I changed regulators but still could not breathe."

Mr Richards aborted the stop and surfaced in a semi-conscious state.

"Those on the dive boat then saved my life by giving me oxygen.

RAN doctors diagnosed that Peter was suffering progressive spinal decompression illness with nitrogen bubbles pressing on his spinal cord. He initially spent two sessions totalling 12 hours in the chamber.

The aim of the treatment was to re-oxygenate his spinal cord and other affected vessels in his body.

During the following week he had another eight sessions, generally of two hours each, in the chamber. He began to get feeling back into his legs.

"I am now on a walking frame and doing baby shuffles," he explained. "But at least I can walk.

"I have my legs back and I credit the Navy and its people with getting me walking again. I do not know how well my walking will be in the future.

"I now start a period of intensive physio therapy," he said just before being transferred to Royal North Shore Hospital.

Just days before Mr Richards arrived the RAN team assessed a woman diver who had taken ill off Shellharbour in NSW and was flown to PENGUIN by Westpac Rescue helicopter.
After initial treatment the woman was discharged.

And in an earlier incident a man received three treatments in the chamber after he took ill in a dive off a Sydney beach.

Footnote: the chambers used to treat Mr Richards were not strange to him because he works for the company which has the contract to maintain the devices, and he knows both intimately.

By Graham Davis