When I first put a blog post on this site I wasn’t sure if I would use it all that much.  The thing is I enjoy writing, but I’m not one who writes just to write.  Usually an event or experience spurs something inside me that’s significant enough for me to feel like I need to let it out.  If I write I hope you know it means something.  As I’m writing this I find myself sitting in the spacious confines of economy class row 12,  seat C.  Between the jarring for elbow space and almost seizure inducing ads for Direct TV flashing on the screen in front of my face I feel an overwhelming sense that I’m incredibly lucky to be where I am right now.   Much to your dismay I’m not on this flight for the gourmet peanuts.  A few days ago my father asked me if I would like to join him in coming to Georgia to meet a man by the name of Bill Schindler and learn about HBOT, otherwise known as Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.  I didn’t know anything about Bill or much about HBOT, but I did know that I had a “gut” feeling that this is something I wanted to know more about.  My father had contacted Bill a week or two earlier and without even knowing who we were invited us to come to Georgia and not only that, he wanted us to stay with him and his wife.  At this point you could say this might be a great experience or the next episode to the Saw horror movie saga.  So we did exactly what you shouldn’t do in a horror movie; we went into the unknown.

As we drove through winding little roads past neatly kept houses on this overcast day one couldn’t help but wonder what we were getting into.  We rang the doorbell and watched the door swing open to Bill and his wife.  If there were any suspicious feelings lingering they were quickly washed away with Bill’s contagious energy and fist pound handshake followed by the hand explosion. (That might go right over some of your heads, don’t worry)  With the scent of a wonderful meal wafting through the house perched over a private lake nestled in pine trees,  Bill dives into what would be 24 hours straight of what I can only describe as passion in it’s purest form.

So who is Bill Shindler and why did we fly all the way from Colorado to Cumming Georgia to meet him?  It’s weird to think that in 2010 pioneers still exist, but Bill is exactly that and he has essentially put Hyperbaric Therapy on the map so to speak. HBOT is something that’s been around for many years, but only recently is it starting to become recognized for the wonderful things it can do thanks to advances in technology.  HBOT is a way of super-saturating the body with oxygen.  So what’s so great about that? Have you ever heard of an NFL player by the name of Terrell Owens?  A few years back Terrell Owens was a star receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles heading to the Super Bowl when he suffered what was supposed to be a season ending ankle injury.  With such a devastating injury it was impossible for T.O. to play the game so he enlisted the help of Bill Schindler who had Terrell Owens not only walking again, but playing in the biggest football game in the NFL and what’s more is he had a great game.  Bill Schindler runs a modest clinic in an unassuming medical building, but as as you walk through the doors you’re inundated with the stories of people whose lives have been irreversibly changed by what Bills doing.  In this building, diseases such as Parkinson’s, Diabetes, M.S., Cerebral Palsy, Cancer and Autism are not only being treated, but conquered.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is essentially the equivalent of taking a dive to the bottom of an 11-foot pool and staying there for an hour or so.  The only difference is you’re breathing pure oxygen and lying in a Hyperbaric Chamber.  Why is oxygen so important?  To figure that out just hold your breath!  Simply put, no other element in this world is more necessary to our lives than oxygen itself.  Just take a look at stroke victims who lose crucial functions of their brains after just a few minutes without it.  The great barrier to treating these conditions is crossing the brain/blood barrier that only allows certain substances to cross it.  Think of it like a guard who tells you that you can’t come in.  You try to come in different disguises, but unlike Tom Cruise, you’re not sneaking in this time.  There’s a simple law of physics that states that gas becomes a liquid under a certain amount of pressure.  What HBOT does is pressurize the body so that the oxygen you’re breathing is absorbed into your red blood cells, the carriers of oxygen in the body and also the plasma that the cells are suspended in.   With super-saturated oxygen red bloods cells floating through the body it’s like kicking the body’s immune system into overdrive.  This is why burn patients, injured soldiers and the likes are treated with HBOT.  The body simply is getting the element it needs most to do the thing it does best; find a way to survive! 

I could spend a page upon page recanting stories that Bill told us, or the hundreds of signed footballs, baseballs, boxing gloves, racing jerseys, posters, hats and other memorabilia that I saw from today’s top and most influential athletes, but the thing that touched me the most is that Bill could care less about it.  Bill never paid the $80,000 dollars per race cost to have his logo plastered on the fastest funny car in history.  Bill never charged a dime to the more than 20,000 special needs children he’s taken sailing through his program Hearts For Sailing.  The interesting thing is Bill isn’t independently wealthy or backed by private funding.  These miracles he’s pulling off are a direct result of people being so moved by the work he’s doing and the results he’s getting that they are willing to donate it all. 

Looking back on this trip I realize it was much more than just a trip to Georgia.  I learned lessons that hopefully I can take with me for the rest of my life, both personal and professionally.  Follow through on your word, treat people with respect, give people more than they expect and go the extra mile.  Show people that good in the world is still very much alive and it lives in each and every one of us.  Do what’s right and do it well, the rest will take care of itself.  Until Next time guys, thanks for reading!


Yours In Fitness & Health,

                Jesse