A Long Ascent is the true story of a man who found his dream beneath the surface.
Tanner Smith was a commercial diver who loved a world most people will never experience. The offshore platforms, the foghorns, the brotherhood of divers, and the ocean had become part of who he was.
Then one dive changed his life.
After a deep dive offshore, Tanner walked away from the ocean not knowing that the hardest journey of his life was just beginning.
What followed were years of relentless symptoms, unanswered questions, and a search for answers that seemed impossible to find. When Tanner felt like he had nowhere else to turn, he prayed and asked God for help.
His prayers weren't answered in the timeline he had hoped for.
But then, miracles began to happen.
Doors began to open. Answers began to come. And a journey Tanner never expected began to unfold.
Then, one day on a golf course, something happened that changed everything.
Told through Tanner's own words, personal photographs, and actual scans from his journey, A Long Ascent takes readers through the moments that tested his faith, changed his life, and gave him hope when he needed it most.
A Long Ascent is a journey of faith, healing, and hope, and a reminder that even when you cannot see what waits at the top, you keep climbing.
Sometimes life changes in a single moment. Finding your way forward can take years.