SCI Superstar: Deborah Mellen

To survive when faced with intense life challenges runs deep in Deborah Mellen’s veins. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, she’s been paralyzed since 1989. Injured in Italy shortly after getting married, life had a different path in store for Deborah, and boy has she embraced it.

She’s the owner of one of the most accessible catamarans in the world – the Impossible Dream – and her life passion has become sharing the joy of sailing with people of all abilities. Uncannily enough, she never sailed before her injury.

But her path to becoming a lover of the seas and eventually procuring her ship didn’t happen overnight. To discover how Deborah ended up where she is today, read her journey below.

Why She’s Fearless

It was a car accident involving a truck while living in Tuscany, Italy with her husband (a truck driver fell asleep behind the wheel and hit her) that thrust Deborah into the world of spinal cord injuries. Afterwards, she decided to stay in Italy, but when her husband passed away 2 years after her injury, she returned home to the US.

After returning home, Deborah went to Miami for additional therapy at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, which is how she was first introduced to adapted sailing. Her surgeon Dr. Barth Green told her about Shake a Leg Miami, a local adaptive sailing organization.

“I began to sail about 6 years after my injury,” she says. “I had always loved the water but had never had the chance to learn how to sail. I was hooked the 1st time out in a Shake boat. Sailing reacquainted me with the feelings of exhilaration, excitement and pure joy, in the moment.” After getting comfortable on the water, Deborah heard about an accessible catamaran in the UK.

“I first heard about the Impossible Dream from my friend Andrea Stella (Lo Spirito di Stella) who invited me on his cruising catamaran from Italy. I fell in love with getting ‘salty.’ He was the one who originally showed me photos of Impossible Dream but at that time I didn’t know it was for sale. It seemed to be totally out of reach.”

After hearing it was for sale, she traveled to England where the catamaran was located, along with Harry Horgan, one of the our past SCI Superstars who’s also the founder of Shake a Leg. She purchased the catamaran after seeing it in person. The ship had been originally built by a paraplegic from the United Kingdom, Mike Browne.

After bringing the boat to the US, Deborah had the idea of renaming it. “We stayed at the Thunderbolt Marina on the river in Savannah for one week putting her back together before setting sail. It was while we were there that I got the idea of ‘X’ ing out the IM of Impossible. We got some red tape and that was it.”

After acquiring the Impossible Dream, she committed it to Shake a Leg, where the organization gives rides on the ship to people with disabilities. Deborah also decided to spiff up the boat after her purchase in 2014. “We tore apart the cabins, sanded, repainted, got rid of mold, and put new mattresses for the cabins.” “We also replaced the dashboard in the helm with an all new Garmin system.”

Among her favorite features of the ship, she loves to be able to access the bow. “I had never been able to access the bow of a boat before.” “Of course being able to get on and off the boat independently is great, but number one is driving, surfing the waves, from a 100% accessible cockpit.”

What’s Next?

Years later, Deb is still bringing hundreds of people each year on the Impossible Dream every year, sharing the joy she feels when she’s out on the water with others with disabilities. If you want to catch a ride of the boat, check out the schedule via the link below. Deb’s ultimate vision is that one day is that there’ll be no need for the term “adaptive sailing.” Instead, they’ll be the default. “I would love to see all sailboats universally designed to include all people.”

— Learn more: The Impossible Dream