Diver marks 'new life' with dive on Oriskany reef
BY VICI PAPAJOHN Gulf Breeze News vici@gulfbreezenews.com

Local diver Jeromee McDonald Beaudette marked her 47th birthday with a dive on the Oriskany reef.

Jeromee McDonald Beaudette has been given a second chance to pursue her love of the coastal waters and she is literally diving in. She is preparing to take her second dive on the Oriskany on Oct. 26 - and this time she will make a moonlit night dive.

"Never would I have believed that this was possible two years ago," she says with a smile. "I was obese and I was suffering hip, knee and foot pain and I was totally out of shape. I never would have been fit for a dive and I never would have been able to haul my equipment."

Beaudette made a decision two years ago to become healthy again. She was 45 years old and had slumped into a life she found to be limited. She felt that she had lost sight of her former self, her former active lifestyle and she longed to rediscover both her love for the water and the person she had lost along the way - herself. After 15 years of dieting and exercising, she remained heavy and knew her obesity was affecting her quality of life.

Submitted photo Divers accompany Jeromee Beaudette down to the Oriskany reef deep in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Previous diets had left me with yo-yo loss and gain cycle that left me heavier and heavier and I wanted a more permanent solution," Beaudette says. "I was not well. I had high blood pressure, foot and knee problems, hip pain and sleep apnea. And I had become invisible. I felt like I was outside of my life, not living it."

She decided to look into gastric bypass, and started researching everything she could on the subject. Her first step was a consult with Dr. Jeffrey Lord at Sacred Heart Hospital. Beaudette was approved as a candidate for the operation that she finally scheduled after counseling and a six month trial weight loss under the supervision of her primary care physician.

Excited and nervous, Beaudette, a registered nurse, signed on for the life-changing and serious operation.

"I know my own body and the risks involved with the surgery and the risks involved with obesity and a lifetime of obesity - and I decided it'd be less of a risk to have bypass surgery. I said to myself 'I want to do this.' I had a strong positive attitude from the beginning I felt the surgery was right for me after I prayed about it. I felt comfortable going to Sacred Heart as they are a Christianbased hospital," Beaudette said.

Beaudette had the Roux-en-Y laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery and suffered no complications. After surgery, the first six to eight weeks were the toughest as she was allowed only fluids and soft foods and small amounts of food.

"I drank water constantly," she remembers. "I had to take vitamins and be careful to consume the right amount of protein. After a while, it became a habit of eating small amounts of healthy foods. Almost immediately I felt an increase in energy. It has taken a year and I have lost 108 pounds and have gone from a size 26 to 12."

The greatest change Beaudette notes is the joy of returning to her old love of the water. She first started snorkeling at age six during a visit to Cozumel and Grand Cayman and continued when she lived in the Virgin Islands when her dad, Glenn McDonald, moved the family there with his construction company, McDonald Marine. Living on Peaks Point throughout her school years only intensified the passion.

"I fell in love with the underwater world at a very young age," she remembers, "and now I have returned to my passion of skin diving."

Her size and her lack of fitness had kept her away from the beach and the water.

"I just was not in good physical condition. Now I am free to dive in again, I feel like a human again. And I will be able to travel to exceptional dive spots and go on mission trips now that I can fit in an airplane seat again," she said.

In June, Beaudette fulfilled a lifelong dream and qualified as a basic open water diver. She followed that with an advanced diving class and Nitrox diving.

"I'm now working on taking a Master Diver class and I've logged 49 dives since June 29. Having lost the weight I can now look forward to living a full life again. My life is half over and I won't waste it. I'd even love to become a rescue diver."

Dr. Lord praises Beaudette's progress and notes that "Everything went right for Jeromee. She had no complications. This is a very serious surgery. There will be roughly 200,000 bariatric procedures in 2007. The goal we physicians share is to give these patients their lives back. Even though there are risks involved, the current death rate is .2 percent. In Florida, 20,000 people will die this year from the dangers of obesity."

"Every morning I awake, I say morning prayers and thank God for my family, friends my health the wonderful world around us," Beaudette shares. "At least once a day I say 'Today is the first day of the rest of my life'. Even if I'm feeling stressed I keep repeating that to myself and it works wonders to change my attitude. My life has changed, my self esteem is back to normal. I love to go boating, fishing walking and scuba diving. You won't catch me being a couch potato -- life is precious and too short." Beaudette adds with a bright grin, "I will sit on the couch to watch a TV show about scuba diving or the sinking of the Oriskany, though."

"It is important for me to let you know I would never tell anyone to have the surgery or not have the surgery. I've known people who have had serious complications and I've heard of some who have died. It is a big decision made only after in depth research and medical counseling. But I know it was the right decision for me and I am living the benefits!"