Wales: Diver back on his feet after near-fatal dive at infamous quarry

A MAN who almost lost his life in a notorious North Wales quarry last night told how he is learning to walk again.

In July Mike Howarth takes over as president of Rhyl Rotary Club.

The proud moment comes exactly three years after he was airlifted to hospital following a diving accident at Dorothea.

The Nantlle Valley has claimed several lives in recent years and the 58-year-old financial adviser was close to becoming yet another statistic.

Now, two-and-a-half years on, he has made a remarkable recovery but is still confined to a wheelchair.

A Rhyl Sub Aqua Club member for 10 years Mike, from Dyserth, is a highly experienced diver.

A qualified instructor, he has dived off the coast of Britain, in the Red Sea, off the Maldives, Canary Islands, in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.

He visited Dorothea quarry on numerous occasions and was aware of the tragic deaths linked with the pool.

Mike said: "It's difficult to know why there have been so many because the old road which is underwater provides natural shelves at different depths.

"It may simply be the law of averages because so many people dive there."

Mike was diving with his "buddy" Beth Heaton on July 20, 2003, when he suffered spinal bends - a build-up of gas bubbles - after surfacing.

"I passed out and was having convulsions," he said.

"I don't know why it happened because we had followed all the correct procedures," added Mike who used to keep fit cycling, playing football and horse-riding.

Other divers gave first-aid and he was flown by helicopter to the decompression chamber at Murrayfield Hospital, Wirral.

He initially spent eight hours in the chamber and over the next three weeks had 18 other sessions.

Mike was then transferred to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd before moving to the stroke unit at HM Stanley Hospital, St Asaph, and the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Unit, in Gobowen.

He returned home in January, 2004, but still returns to Gobowen every six months and visits the hydrotherapy pool at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.

Today his chest is still partially paralysed and both legs and hands are affected to varying degrees.

He has recently started walking a short distance on crutches.

Mike remains philosophical about the accident, describing his diving experiences as "an interesting chapter in my book of life which is now over".

"It is an adventure sport with elements of danger and there was always a chance something could go wrong," he added.

A clubmate, who also ran into difficulties while sea-diving shortly after Mike's accident, subsequently gave up the sport after being shaken by the experience.

Though wife Tina keeps a close eye on him Mike has not entirely given up adventure sports.

He enjoys quad-biking on machines specially adapted for the disabled.

At the time of the accident Mike was junior vice-president of Rhyl Rotary Club but his step-up to senior vice-president was deferred for 12 months.

"I never realised I had so many friends with fellow Rotarians, club-mates and even clients calling to see me in hospital and asking after me," he said.

Source: icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/regionalnews