South Bend man with Down syndrome achieves dream at 13,000 feet

Jumping out of a plane at 13,000 feet may sound like a nightmare for many people; but for a South Bend man with Down syndrome, it was his dream.

The Logan Center helped that dream come true.

25-year-old Robbie Rist lives at a Logan group home.

Recently he went to his home manager and told her he wanted to go skydiving!

The Logan Center says he came to them with the idea after a conference in Indianapolis.

A paraplegic speaker talked about how he took on physical challenges despite his disability.

They say that must have inspired Robbie to jump.

Last month, he accomplished that dream. Friday, we re-lived the jump.

“I'm not scared I’ll do it again,” Robbie said, as he watched the video from his skydive.

It must be true; nothing must scare Robbie.

“He’s just all guts he always goes for something he wants to do,” said LaKeisha Drake, the manager or Robbie’s group home. She took Robbie to Skydive Chicago, but stayed on the ground.

“She was scared, she was chicken,” Robbie said, laughing.

“Yes, I was a chicken,” Drake said.

Even after the training for the skydive, and getting up in the plane; Robbie says he had no fear.

“You think anybody could do it?” Drake asked.

“Yea, anybody could do it,” Robbie said.

Robbie says he wasn’t even scared when they opened the plane door 13,000 feet in the air.

“Right here, a little nervous right?” Newscenter 16’s Ryan Famuliner asked, as he watched Robbie on the tape, moments before his jump.

“Nope!” Robbie answered, without hesitation.

Finally, Robbie and his tandem jump partner “Sparky” made the jump!

“It was very inspiring. I was more nervous than he was he was calm cool and collected. The whole time, he was more comforting me. Telling me he was going to be OK, it was going to be fine,” Drake said.

“You think anybody could do that? I don’t think I could do that,” Famuliner said, as Robbie continued his free fall on the video.

“Come on, man!” Robbie replied.

But Robbie’s house manager says it's important for him to be able do whatever he wants.

“As long as they have assistance they can live as full a life as anyone else; and he’s a great example,” Drake said.

Robbie says his family supported him the whole way.

“Very happy and proud of me,” Robbie said.

And the pride goes even further than that.

“It was really inspiring because he said this is something he said he wanted to do and he did it,” Drake said.

Robbie free-fell for a full minute, at speeds of 120 miles per hour; before they pulled the parachute.

It took 6 more minutes for them to reach the ground.

The first thing he said on the ground was that he wanted to do it again!

Drake says Robbie was Logan’s first sky-diver. But she also says his housemates may go with him on his next jump. She says he also wants to try para-sailing; and they plan to do that sometime next year.

To watch some of the video of Robbie’s jump, click on the video link above.