Phil Macheca
Phil Macheca
Phil grew up in southeastern Wisconsin and West Virginia before moving to Michigan in 1999 to work at a YMCA camp. Within a week, he met Karyn, his future wife. They married in 2001 and recently celebrated their 25th anniversary with their sons, Jacob, 26, and Marcus, 22.
Family, close friendships, and helping others have always shaped Phil’s life. He worked as a nurse for more than 12 years, with his time as an ER nurse being especially meaningful. The work was demanding, but it allowed him to make a real difference in people’s lives while working alongside a team he considered more like family than coworkers.
Today, Phil still works for the same hospital, primarily from home, auditing charts for patients diagnosed with sepsis. On November 15, 2021, Phil’s life changed while hunting from a tree stand. A knot came loose, causing him to fall and sustain burst fractures to his T10 and T11 vertebrae. The resulting spinal cord injury left him using a wheelchair and changed nearly every part of his daily life.
Tasks that were once simple now require more planning, effort, and preparation. But Phil has approached those challenges by constantly looking for solutions. He has adapted his home, vehicles, and routines and uses two off-road wheelchairs that allow him to continue hunting, fishing, and enjoying the outdoors.
Phil has also benefited from several adaptive outdoor organizations and now tries to pay that support forward. He shares equipment ideas, adaptive solutions, and new opportunities with others living with disabilities and is always willing to help someone navigating similar challenges.
Returning to the Water
Phil has always loved the water. Before his injury, he enjoyed camping, hiking, kayaking, backpacking, fishing, and tubing near his cabin. One of his goals is to learn how to kayak again with Karyn. Scuba diving holds an especially important place in his life.
In 2017, Phil and Karyn stayed on Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas, where Phil spent hours snorkeling in a secluded bay surrounded by marine life. A year later, he joined his son Marcus and his Boy Scout troop on a week-long diving trip through the Bahamas. They traveled between Nassau and Eleuthera, diving twice a day and even completing a night dive and shark dive. Phil and Marcus planned to continue taking dive trips together after Marcus graduated from high school. Then Phil was injured during Marcus’s senior year.
Lying in the hospital after his accident, Phil remembers thinking that scuba diving was another dream he would have to give up.Being selected by Dive Pirates Foundation has changed that.
Phil has been swimming since his injury and loves the feeling of weightlessness and freedom the water provides. The thought of scuba diving again is exciting and a little daunting, but it represents much more than returning to an old hobby. It means reclaiming a piece of the freedom he thought he had lost.
With adaptive training, Phil hopes he and Marcus will finally be able to take the diving trips they once planned together. Phil describes being selected by Dive Pirates Foundation as a dream come true. He hopes his experience will inspire others to keep pursuing their goals, even when they seem impossible.
More than anything, Phil wants his family and friends to remember that after his injury, he kept moving forward. He adapted, kept trying, and refused to give up.
For Phil, this opportunity can be summed up in two words: Life changing.
Donate today and be a part of Phil’s incredible journey!