A Long Ascent is the true story of Matthew Tanner Smith, a former commercial diver whose life changed after a dive nearly 150 feet beneath the surface.
For years, Tanner made his living working beneath the water, doing a dangerous job few people experience. But after a dive, something was wrong. He returned home to West Virginia and began experiencing frightening symptoms. Severe balance problems, dizziness, vision problems, memory issues, difficulty speaking, pressure in his head, and numbness began taking pieces of his life away.
He went from doctor to doctor searching for answers, but they did not come. As the years passed, his symptoms got worse. People told him he might have to live this way for the rest of his life.
He wasn't going to accept that.
Tanner refused to stop searching. He entered a period of his life he calls "the darkness," filled with fear, frustration, tears, and days when he wondered if he would ever feel like himself again.
Through it all, Tanner prayed.
He prayed for healing. He prayed for answers. He prayed for God to show him a way forward. The answers did not come when he wanted them to, but he refused to give up. During the darkest years of his life, he held on to his faith and believed there had to be a reason for what he was going through.
Eventually, his search led him to people who understood what had happened and to Dr. Paul Harch in New Orleans, where Tanner began hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Then came a day Tanner never expected, when a simple golf putt showed him something was finally changing.
On November 1, 2016, after several treatments, Tanner stood on a golf course in New Orleans. Standing over a short putt became much more than a game.
It became The Putt That Changed His Life.
But A Long Ascent is about more than a dive, years of searching for answers, treatments, or the putt that changed his life.
It is the story of a man trying to find his way out of the darkness. It is about family, faith, fear, perseverance, and the people who appeared when he needed them most. It is about continuing to climb when you cannot see the top.
Years later, Tanner understood there was a reason he lived through everything he did. Maybe his story was never meant to remain only his.
A Long Ascent is his story of faith, healing, and hope, and a reminder to anyone walking through their own darkness that their story may not be over.
Tanner came to understand that God didn't move a mountain. He held his hand and walked through it with him.
And if Tanner's story helps just one person find hope and keep climbing, sharing it was worth it.