Isabel Perez Rios Bravo
Isabel Perez Rios Bravo
Isabel was born in 1994 in Mexico and lived there until she was 20. At that age, she took the big step of enrolling in a college in Miami, Florida, moving to a different country without knowing anyone, which was a major challenge. Isabel studied environmental engineering, and once she qualified, she moved to Dallas, Texas, to work as a Wastewater Treatment Plant Engineer.
Her health began to decline in college, to the point that Isabel has used a wheelchair full-time for the past seven years. As a 3-year-old child, Isabel limped, leading her family to spend a lot of time visiting doctors in Mexico and the US to identify the cause. In the end, it was coincidentally a doctor from Dallas who finally diagnosed her with Charcot-Marie-Tooth (Shahr-KOH-Marie-Tooth) disease, a group of inherited disorders that cause nerve damage. The disease affects Isabel’s elbows to hands and knees to feet, with symptoms typically appearing in adolescence or early adulthood.
As a result of this diagnosis, Isabel strives to maintain her health by being active to stay strong, as any loss of muscle mass would be difficult to rebuild. Isabel has always enjoyed the water, from swimming and snorkeling to now working in that environment. She has recently taken up open water swimming, training to swim a distance of a mile. In a bid to boost her fitness, Isabel continues to explore new sports, having recently started hand cycling and is in the process of buying her first bike. Pushing boundaries further, Isabel is also keen on performing “Stand Up”—or rather “Sitting Down”—Comedy.
Growing up, Isabel’s aunt was an avid scuba diver and would show photos and videos of her dive trips at family gatherings. Scuba diving was something Isabel had always wanted to do but never thought she could until she met the Dive Pirates Foundation at the Abilities Expo in Dallas last year. There, she learned that it was possible. Her friend and past Dive Pirate recipient, Ben Hedrick, further encouraged her to apply, telling her how much he had enjoyed his own dive experience. Isabel has since been successfully accepted into the Dive Pirate adaptive diver program. She will be training with Jimme Garza of International Scuba.
This year has been full of new adventures for Isabel as she continues to challenge herself. She has tried skiing, followed by skydiving, and now it’s time for scuba.