About two-thirds of Americans—roughly 65–70%—rely on some form of vision correction, whether glasses, contact lenses, even surgery.
Those numbers remind me daily how precious clear sight is, and how fragile it can be.
My awareness of vision’s importance began at home: my daughter was born blind. From the start, our family learned that sight (or the absence of it) shapes everything—safety, learning, joy.
That reality stayed with me as I navigated my own eye troubles over the past year. I had cataract surgery and, for eight miraculous months, I felt like a marksman—sharp, confident, grateful. Then both eyes suffered detached retinas, and I returned to the operating table. For the last six months I’ve been living with shifting vision, appointments and the uncertainty that comes with trying to regain normalcy.
That personal journey deepened my sensitivity to the millions who manage vision challenges every day—and it informed the work of my nonprofit, DiveHeart. We encounter swimmers and divers who need prescription masks to experience the underwater world clearly and safely. For people who are used to relying on glasses on land, being underwater without clear vision can be isolating and dangerous. Over the years we’ve tested many masks and finally found one that works exceptionally well for me and for others with prescription needs.
So here’s an offer from DiveHeart: if you’d like to see clearly underwater, we want to help. Try one of our prescription scuba masks. If you find a mask that fits and allows you to see underwater clearly, it’s yours—free. Consider it a gift from our organization to help open up the world below the surface for more people.
If you’re interested, reach out. Email me at jim.elliott@diveheart.org or call (630) 964-1983.
We’ll set up a fitting and get you into a mask that might change how you experience swimming and diving—bringing the kind of clarity that has meant so much to many in our Diveheart family.
Diveheart: Stories From the Heart – Can a Ventilator-Dependent Person Scuba Dive?
