Limitless horizon

In just 10 minutes, Denver Champion experienced a high he had been waiting years for.

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Denver Champion decided at 14 he wanted to skydive. He got his wish this month.

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Tightly harnessed and hooked to his skydiving instructor, the 23-year-old paraplegic floated in midair, as he had dreamed of doing almost 10 years ago.

"For the first five seconds, I couldn't breathe," he said. "After that, I looked down, and it was the most beautiful thing I ever seen."

Mr. Champion was able to take the long-awaited jump on his birthday thanks to Calle Vinas, a company that provides home care for him and paid for the skydive.

Skydiving only confirmed his belief that his disabilities don't have to limit him, he said.

"If anybody gives me a challenge, I'll find a way to do it," he said. "That's just how I am."

His mother, Darlene McElroy, said her son has never let himself be held back by hydrocephalus, a condition that accumulates cerebrospinal fluid around the brain and spinal cord. He was diagnosed as an infant and used a wheelchair until age 4 but worked his way up to using a walker.

"I kept seeing other people walking, so I wanted to try it out," he said.

Mr. Champion was paralyzed at 10 when doctors placed a shunt, used to drain fluid from his brain, in the wrong place. Even at a young age, he saw the paralysis as a blessing, he said.

"If that hadn't have gone wrong, I wouldn't look at the great things the same way," Mr. Champion said. "Plus I wouldn't have as much guts."

At age 14, his gutsy personality led him to ask his neurosurgeon whether he could skydive. Though the doctor said yes, Mrs. McElroy had one stipulation.

"I told him he had to wait until he turned 18," she said.

Mr. Champion celebrated his 18th birthday in surgery at Medical College of Georgia Hospital.

He had the flu on his 19th birthday, and he also fell ill on his next two birthdays.

In February, Calle Vinas employee Karen Hylton asked Mr. Champion what he dreamed of doing. He told her the story of how his health had kept him from skydiving for more than four years.

The company raises money each year for clients to do things they wouldn't otherwise get to do, Mrs. Hylton said. Just weeks before Mr. Champion's birthday, Mrs. Hylton told him he would finally get to skydive.

"If I could walk, I would have jumped out of my chair when she told me," he said.

Mr. Champion and his family traveled to Adventure Skydiving Center in Cedartown, Ga., on March 9. With the help of skydiving instructor Ted Ganger, he jumped from a plane 14,000 feet above the ground. The best part was flying through a cloud, he said.

Plans are already in the works for a second skydive.

Now that he's achieved his dream, he wants to help others look beyond their disabilities.

"I talked to physically challenged friends, and they say I inspire them to be better," he said. "I tell them they just need to focus on their abilities, not their disabilities."

Reach Stephanie Toone at (706) 823-3215 or stephanie.toone@augustachronicle.com.