Help fund my heart surgery

At the start of June, following a great day's diving, I suffered an incident of decompression illness (aka 'the bends').   As an experienced diver, I had conducted my dives within recognised safe guidelines and there was no apparent reason for the DCI.  I was airlifted to the nearest recompression chamber to undergo emergency treatment.  Two months later, I was diagnosed with a hole in my heart which was a major contributing factor.  Whilst many people live with this condition and never even know about it, for scuba divers like me it has a profound impact.  An operation can be done to close the hole, but it is not available on the NHS.  Please, help me raise the money to fund the operation. The rash caused by the decompression illness - I was lucky to only have a skin bend, rather than bubbles forming in my spine or brain. Those who know me will be aware of what diving means to me, but for those who don't, I will try to explain.  I learned to dive when I was twelve, and continued throughout my teenage years.  At the same time, I was suffering from as-yet-undiagnosed bipolar disorder.  Through black depressions and wild mood swings, diving was my one calm space.  In my early twenties, the bipolar disorder was formally diagnosed, and by my mid-twenties my episodes became so severe that it was no longer safe for me to dive.  For several years, I did not dive, and I was lost.  Gradually, I started to gain control over my illness and my moods began to stabilise.  I realised that there was a possibility I could learn to live without medication - and, if I could do that, I could dive again. Seven years ago, I was fighting poor mental and physical health Around five years ago, I gradually came off all psychiatric medication.  A little over three years ago, I found a local dive club and started diving again.  Since then, it has become the central facet of my life: it is my passion, my world.  I have been through some difficult experiences in the recent past, with last year being particularly filled with hardship and tragedy.  Without a shadow of a doubt, I believe that if I hadn't been able to dive I would have had another episode of depression or mania - when I get ill, my life is torn apart and it takes years to rebuild.  Diving helps me avoid that; it gives me space, and time, and silence.  During a dive is the one place where I am at absolute peace, the chaos of my mind quieted without me even trying.  For a short time, I no longer have to fight or work to stay balanced: I can just be.  It is a transcendent experience which has kept me alive so many times, and I cannot imagine having to live without it again. Diving works its magic even in murky British waters! To stay sane, I need to dive.  To dive, I need to have the hole in my heart closed.  The operation costs nearly £18,000, which is money I simply do not have.  Please help me fund the operation - anything you can spare will help gradually chip away at that huge goal.  If you can't spare any money to help, please share this with your friends, family, colleagues...the more people who see it, the more people might be moved to give just a little bit to help reach the goal.  Please, help me get back in the water, back to my place of peace and sanity.  Help me get my life back.