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As a student hot air balloon pilot, Denise Smith-Irwin reached heights that most of us would not dare go! Not only did she take part in a number of rallies, but she participated in the 2000 Albuquerque International Balloon Festival with over a 1,000 other balloons in the sky.
Her love for hot air balloons is how she met Crystal, a fellow pilot with a dream that she was passionate about — making a hot air balloon for kids with disabilities. Denise loved the idea and said she was all in, never imagining that she herself would soon become a person with a disability.
In August 2003, Denise was involved in a serious car accident while on a road trip to Yellowstone National Park with her husband and five children, all between the ages of 5 and 13. Denise was driving their new SUV with a pop-up tent trailer when something went wrong with the trailer, causing the SUV to roll over three times. As a result, Denise ended up in the hospital with a spinal cord injury that took away her ability to walk and limited her upper body control and hand function. Apart from some stitches, the rest of her family was fortunate to survive the crash unscathed.
Crystal visited Denise while she was in the hospital recovering, and they decided that despite her accident they could still make their dream a reality. It took a few years, but in December 2012, the Dream Catcher Balloon Program was officially founded with a hot air balloon designed for mobility challenged individuals. Instead of the usual basket, the balloon is designed with a bench seat where the pilot sits on one side and the passenger on the other.
In addition to giving rides to people with disabilities in the Pacific Northwest, Dream Catcher Balloon has visited a number of other western states, traveled to the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival in 2015, and has even made a couple of appearances in the Philippines, where they participated in the largest hot air balloon event in Asia. Since the organization started in 2012, almost 2000 individuals with disabilities have taken rides in the Dream Catcher Balloon!
Denise has stayed active with the organization and currently serves as its Director of Education, while Crystal is the Executive Director and Captain. Even though Denise can now ride in a hot air balloon, the current design still does not allow her to pilot the balloon herself because she cannot reach up and squeeze the burner. However, there is a new design in the making that might give her that independence once more! Denise is extremely grateful to see the Dream Catcher Balloon Program come to fruition, and happy that she is still able to get in an air balloon, just in a different way.
When Denise is not up in the sky, she loves hiking and being outdoors. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Ian’s Ride, whose primary mission is to promote outdoor accessibility. It was at one of this organization’s outdoor gatherings, the 2019 “Ride Rainer” event, that the Bodypoint team met Denise for the first time.
In addition to being incredibly beautiful, Mount Rainier National Park has a number of paved trails, perfect for people with disabilities who love the outdoors. However, some of the trails are quite steep, making it difficult for individuals with high-level injuries to stay upright in their chair and keep from falling forward when going downhill without any upper body support. For additional stability while exploring areas like this, Denise uses a Bodypoint Quad Belt across her chest. She likes the Quad Belt because its stiffened thumb socket gives a person with minimal hand function the ability to maneuver the belt, and its patented Rehab Latch™ allows her to easily release the buckle without assistance.
Denise has also had a life-long passion for helping develop young minds. She graduated from Kent State University in Ohio with a degree in Special Education and another in Elementary Education. She was a third-grade teacher for a number of years. Although her disability makes it hard to teach full-time, to this day Denise still spends time in the classroom tutoring elementary-aged students and small groups for the school where she previously taught. She also helped to launch an after-school program at her church. Denise has not been able to be in a classroom recently due to COVID-19, but is taking this opportunity to attend school online to get her life coaching certificate and plans to do that part time in the future.
When asked what advice she would give to someone who recently went through what she did 18 years ago, Denise said: “You are the same person, and you are not going to change. Continue to pursue what you are interested in. You can still be involved, and you can do more than you can even imagine right now. Stay connected with your old friends and make new ones in the spinal cord injury community, like the Here and Now Project and Ian’s Ride. Live life and do life with other people, just in a different way. Keep moving forward”.
We have no doubt that regardless of her path, Denise herself will keep moving forward…and upward!
- Tyler Calvi, Bodypoint Marketing of Coordinator
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