Scuba Diver Snubs Disability in Pursuit of the Underwater World

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About 30 feet deep on Molasses Reef off Key Largo, Greg Rodriguez chased a barracuda, temporarily eluding his scuba-diving buddy, Jim Elliott. When Rodriguez and Elliott emerged about 45 minutes later, they were chuckling.

"You left me in your dust," Elliott said to Rodriguez.

Said Rodriguez: "I thought we could catch him."

What made this playful exchange remarkable is that three months ago, Rodriguez, 26, was confined to a wheelchair -- the result of a traumatic brain injury from a March 2006 car accident that left him in a coma for three weeks. Rodriguez, a Marine Corps veteran from Stickney, Ill., has trouble speaking and can only walk with a cane. But you would never know he was disabled by watching him zip around in the water.

"Diving has helped me a lot. It helps me with my frustrations," Rodriguez said. "I'm a highly active individual and Marine. Due to my disability, I can no longer run. Once I get in the water, I feel that I'm completely buoyant and can dive around the whole world and not get tired."

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