Benjamin Franz - Bad news

[Chefkoch]

Benjamin Franz apparently had a diving accident while training for his new WR in Safaga/Egypt.
I read that he has returned to Germany yesterday, after spending one day in a pressure chamber in El Gouna.
He is now in a hospital in Murnau, near Munich...
His 165m No Limit record attempt, scheduled for August 24, was cancelled.
There is no official statement yet, but anyway this is sad news, so let's keep our fins crossed and wish him luck...

[basco]

Pressure chamber.. ? oh my.. what could have happened? Strange..
Hope he will recover without problems.

[efattah]

It would appear that Benjamin probably suffered a severe DCS hit. I know Pipin has had DCS after no-limits dives. Perhaps Benjamin did too many no-limits training dives in a row.

Let's hope he recovers.


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

[Jorg]

Damn, that's to bad! It's probably DCS, as Eric mentioned. Or maybe he had to leave the sledge at a very deep depth and use scubagear... Anyway good luck to Benjamin and his recovery!

[kirehe]

I am a rookie, so I find my question legit: what does "DCS" mean?

Erik

[M-2]

Kirehe-
DCS- decompression sickness, aka the bends. basically with the added pressure during a dive, the nitrogen in the air in your lungs enters the blood stream harmlessly (more pressure=more of a gas that can be dissolved into a liquid). on ascent the pressure decreases and the nitrogen comes out of solution causing bubbles. the severity of the hit depends on where those bubbles form or move to.

usually this is most common with scuba, but for those doing very deep repetitive freedives, as with the no-limits dives, it is a potential problem. probably something most of us won't ever have to worry abou t with freediving.

[Uli]

News about Benjamin Franz:

In the latest article (www.unterwasser.de) the first diagnostic results were published:
Clinically his status is compared to a stroke involving hemiplegia(?) and affecting his ability to speak.
According to the article Benjamin is conscious and reacts to his environment, but is still unable to speak.
The current treatment consists of intensive neurological training and oxygen treatment.
Apparently Benjamin had been found on the surface by his safety divers unable to react after one of his training dives.

Our best wishes to him, his family and friends. I guess we all hope to hear better news from him, soon.

Uli

[basco]

oh, this is very bad..

[BladeRunner]

Uli please keep us up date with any news. Franz has become my favorite pro freediver to keep up with. I was hoping one day to meet him. I don't speak german but still want to meet him in person.

Blade Out

[Erik]

My prayers for a full recovery..."enshallah",
Erik Y.

[Cliff Etzel]

I think I speak for all of the staff of Deeperblue when I say that our thoughts and prayers are with Benjamin for a quick and complete recovery from this terrible tragedy.

Get well soon, Benjamin

[Uli]

There is a new article concerning Benjamin Franz on a german webpage. As Benjamin's brother Alexander put a link to it in Benjamin's guestbook it might be considered as authorized:

http://www.unterwasserwelt.de/html/b...laganfall.html

On the medical side the article more or less repeats what has been said before.

A short excerpts:

"(...) Any speculation as to whether the incident is directly linked to apnea-diving, cannot be certified. Presumably there will never be a definitive answer to this question."


Uli