Lake Winola woman falls for skydiving

BY STACY BROWN

Times-Shamrock Writer

Some may call it a fearless act of blind faith.

Others have used such phrases as "courageous" and "unbelievable," while still others have simply expressed shock.

Then, there are the students at Endless Mountain Skydiving in Tunkhannock, who have expressed their thoughts about Laurie Cavage's hobby this way:

"Holy crap, if she could do that, so can I."

According to Cavage and her husband, Tom, those words are repeated quite regularly.

She is, after all, legally blind, yet she often sky dives with Mr. Cavage, a pilot and sky-diving school instructor who runs Endless Mountain Skydiving. "The students find a lot of inspiration in my wife and what she does," Mr. Cavage said. "They always say that if she can do it, so can they. Their respect is so much more each time, it's incredible."

Mrs. Cavage has fearlessly jumped solo and in tandem with Tom, often to the delight and encouragement of the many students who take lessons at the facility.

"The students whom my husband instructs are always amazed," said Mrs. Cavage, a physical therapist assistant at Allied Services in Scranton. "They are surprised each time I go up and they are even more surprised when I put my gear on and I jump out of the plane. But, it's all fun to me."

First time

Mrs. Cavage, 38, was 23 years old before she ever climbed aboard an airplane.

When she did board an airplane for the first time 15 years ago, the Lake Winola resident donned sky-diving gear, a parachute, and attached herself to Tom before diving out of one of Mr. Cavage's Cessna 182s.

"For some reason, I wanted to do it and I loved it," she said. "My first jump was a tandem jump with Tom and it was such a great experience and I've been doing it ever since."

The couple met for the first time during Mrs. Cavage first sky-diving experience. "About a year later, she decided she wanted to do it more frequently and I thought it was great," Mr. Cavage said. "She went through the required training and, after a while, we realized we had a common attraction and we eventually got married."

The oohs and aahs that accompany just about each of Mrs. Cavage's jumps are borne of the fact that she has a handicap that most presume would prohibit her from such high-flying activity.

As a young girl, Mrs. Cavage was diagnosed with macular degeneration, a chronic eye disease marked by deterioration of tissue in the part of the eye that is responsible for central vision.

According to its definition found on the popular Mayo Clinic Web site, the deterioration occurs in the macula, which is in the center of the retina - the layer of tissue on the inside back wall of the eyeball.

Legally blind

While it doesn't cause total blindness, macular degeneration worsens the quality of life of sufferers by blurring or causing a blind spot in their central vision.

"My peripheral vision is good, but that's it," Mrs. Cavage said. "Legally, I am blind."

The disease, which medical officials said affects more than 1.75 million Americans, has no known cure and doctors continue to search for ways to effectively treat it.

"My younger sister has it as well. It seems to skip generations," said Mrs. Cavage, who has two sisters. "I function pretty well and some people forget that I have it. What sucks for me, though, is not being able to drive."

While she cannot drive, the disease has done nothing to prevent Mrs. Cavage from skiing, riding a snow mobile and jumping out of airplanes. "She is so courageous. There isn't anything she wouldn't attempt," Mr. Cavage said. "She scuba dives and, when she drives the snowmobile, she rides behind me and we hook up radios so that she can be directed."

Mr. Cavage, who has been a sky-diving instructor for 28 years, said his wife's courage is unsurpassed. She credits her parents with such a strong will. "My parents instilled in me a faith that pushes me," Mrs. Cavage said. "My father always said not to let anything keep me from doing something I wanted to do."

Her parents, Russell and Dorothy Trauger, have always encouraged each of their children to reach for heights that might prove too high for some, but attainable through hard work, determination and faith in others, Mrs. Cavage said.

"There is the mental challenge of actually getting out of those doors on the plane," she said. "It can be scary and when you're sitting there and the door opens, it's like 'huh?' But, when you jump out, you're out there and it is such a great, great, great feeling."

On most weekends, when the weather permits, Mrs. Cavage and her husband can be found at Skyhaven Airport preparing to ascend in one of the Cessnas.

On solo jumps, Mrs. Cavage is aided only by the two-way radio that's strapped to her side and connected to the radio her stepson, Bryan, has as he waits on the ground to help direct her landing.

Most of the jumps begin at between 10,000 and 12,000 feet. A free fall of about 5,500 feet ensues and Mrs. Cavage is alerted, by the radio contact with her stepson on how far up she is and at what point she should open her parachute.

"I depend upon Bryan for proper direction and the weather, of course, has to be good," Mrs. Cavage said. "It's a great feeling because, when you jump out, you're actually going about 120 miles per hour when you leave the plane. It's like you're floating up there."