Skydiver Jarrett Martin is a stark reminder of what can go wrong in extreme sports . The Dubai-based young American is also a powerful advertisement for putting safety first when you tackle a stunt laced with potentially fatal risks . Martin was n't even out of his teens when the sport with which he was obsessed almost killed him . Yet , he came back from the brink to chalk up a world first -- and secure a job at the busiest sky diving center in the Middle East . The 24-year-old is a familiar figure at Skydive Dubai , where he is one of just two qualified master parachute riggers in the United Arab Emirates . Earlier this year , Martin achieved even more notoriety when he completed 11 so-called BASE jumps -- from a fixed structure or cliff -- in four days in the Norwegian fjords . Leaving his wheelchair at the summit of a 3,000-foot ( 914 meters ) peak , he pushed himself off and became the first disabled person to successfully make such a jump unassisted . By rights the Seattle-born sportsman should n't be here at all . At 18 , a jump stunt went wrong and left him fighting for his life with a broken back , a torn aorta , battered lungs and kidneys , and paralyzed from the chest down . Martin emerged from his coma and had a question for the doctors who saved him . `` 'When can I start skydiving again ' , I asked , '' he recalls . Inspirational journey . Most people would have quit and considered their luck at surviving . Yet , not only did Martin dive out of a plane six months later , he became one of just two disabled people in the world to complete a BASE jump . Then , in March of this year , he was taken on by Skydive Dubai , impressed by his skills when he competed for the United States in an accuracy skydive event over Dubai . Martin acknowledges his wheelchair makes some rookie skydive customers nervous , but his journey is nothing short of inspirational . He says : `` It is good for them to see me as anything is a possibility . `` The paralysis I have is n't that common . You either survive or you do n't . `` Half my body survived and half did n't . That 's why I 'm in a wheelchair . But what you do afterward speaks a lot . A lot of people get paralyzed and they just let themselves go and get reclusive . '' Martin was a veteran of 2,800 jumps when he broke his body during a speed-flying attempt in Hawaii , where he worked for a skydive business . A hybrid of paragliding and BASE jumping , it involved leaping from a cliff . `` I was trying new things and things did n't quite go to plan and my parachute collapsed . I fell a couple of hundred feet and broke my back and damaged a lot of my insides . `` You have this wing that 's laid out behind you . I was going to run and the parachute would inflate and I was going to start gliding down the mountainside . `` Once I was airborne I was going to try to get enough altitude so I could release that parachute and open up a secondary parachute . `` In the midst of all the action and with a new special harness I had built , I was flying for about 10 seconds and that parachute prematurely released and I did n't have enough altitude to deploy my secondary chute . '' Triple checks . Martin pauses as he recalls the moment . `` I should have been dead . Miraculously I survived . `` The doctors did a good job of putting me back together . It takes a while to get healthy enough to even get out of bed let alone get in an airplane , but thankfully within six months I was . '' Martin took a year to fully rehabilitate . He studied air traffic control , but struggled to get a job , so then decided to head to Florida in order to become a master parachute rigger . `` I was responsible for my equipment that day in Hawaii and it has made me a very detail orientated person today . Not only do I double check everything , I triple check and ask opinions of other qualified people , '' he says . These days Martin is among just a dozen wheelchair skydivers in the world and remains part of the U.S. parachuting team that competed over Dubai . `` When I got hurt I thought I would never get to go to Dubai and check out all the cool things there . So to be in Dubai right now is really a dream come true , '' says Martin , who still manages 200 jumps a year . `` I never thought it would be possible to work here in my condition but you put your mind to it and anything can happen . It took that accident almost to realize how much passion I have for the job I do now . `` My grandfather and my father were skydivers . I 've been around it all my life , so even with something as dramatic as getting paralyzed , that 's not going to slow me down . `` If there 's a will there 's a way . I 've found the way and it 's awesome to continue doing what I love . ''
Jarrett Martin was paralyzed at the age of 18 by a stunt jump that went wrong . The accident happened in June 2014 when he jumped from an airplane during filming for his new movie “Jumanji.” `` You put your mind to it and anything can happen , '' says Martin .