CityView Magazine

art Dive In T How one man overcame a paralyzing accident and obstacles to create his unique art By SaraH onken raveling the world and diving to the ocean's floor are the norm for Rick Allen. His work in the documentary field has been featured on National Geographic, ABC, CBS, Discovery and more. After a life-threatening accident took his left arm, goals and a good support system helped him dive back into his life and his work. Rick Allen is a videographer, broadcast video producer, co-founder of Nautilus Productions and a genuinely positive, fun person. Thirty years of deep-sea diving, documenting old shipwrecks, great white sharks and general aquatic life, taught him and his wife, Cindy, to act quickly and efficiently in emergency situations. These very skills kept him alive on a cold January evening three years ago. On Jan. 3, 2011, Rick came home in the evening and parked his car in the garage. Forgetting about the dive gear he was preparing to service for the winter, he accidently bumped into an oxygen tank used for deepcompression diving. A small contaminant within the tank set off a chemical reaction, causing it to explode. "I was a couple of feet away from it when it exploded, and I just remember this pop, a bright white light and this pressure wave that hit me," Allen remembered, "It was totally dark. I opened my eyes and I knew exactly what had happened—I knew the tank had blown up." The explosion caused the ceiling to come down and blew nearly everything off the walls, including the power box— taking all power in the house with it. After getting over the initial shock of survival, which is rare in this type of situation, he struggled between the two cars in the garage. The garage was getting lighter—lit with the flames from the fire on and around him. Allen recalled, "I am reaching with my left hand, trying to catch myself, and I can't do it. Finally, I turn to look and my arm is gone." Realizing the magnitude of the situation, a thought went through his mind, "Wow my life just changed forever." After a rushed 911 call, Cindy, who was injured herself, grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher and put out the flames on her husband's back. Rick made his way across the hood of the car, through the debris and grabbed her hand. Because of their quick reaction time, it wasn't much longer before, Rick, Cindy and their dog, Lucky, were able to talk their way out of the dark house together. There was a blur of commotion as friends and neighbors gathered, emergency vehicles approached and someone called for a helicopter, "I have spent 12 years in TV news and you know it is never good when the chopper comes," Allen laughed. The helicopter transferred him to the Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill. "I remember getting put into the bird and the rotors spinning up. That was the last thing I CityViewNC.com | 25

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