SWIMMINGLY SECURE

Michael Baltes

Video

By RICHARD L. BOCCIA

YOUNGSTOWN — Michael Baltes had to overcome many obstacles to secure his dream of swimming with dolphins.

He has Down syndrome and diabetes. He used to have a fear of water. He lives in Youngstown, far from the ocean, and swimming with dolphins can cost thousands of dollars.

But this summer, the 36-year-old made his decade-spanning dream come true. He saved his wages and took the trip of a lifetime. But why dolphins?

“Dolphins are everything,” Baltes says. For him, swimming with dolphins was as meaningful an experience as it was rare. Anticipation was high before the trip. Besides the occasional visit to Sea World, Baltes had only seen dolphins in books, on TV and in his dreams.

In his room, Baltes sees dolphins when he lays his head on the pillow, and not just when he’s sleeping. Dolphins swim across Baltes’ sheets and curtains, and his bed is surrounded by ocean-green carpet.

“When I wake up, I’m excited to go,” he said before the trip, which he took with his mother and stepfather in July.

There, Baltes found that he wasn’t afraid of the four powerful marine mammals, which weighed several hundred pounds each. He saw them do leaps that made the barrier between two parts of the pool seem laughable.

“They can go all the way under and jump over it if they want to,” he said, describing what sounds like a scene from “Free Willy.”

“I was almost just like Jesse,” Baltes said, referring to the movie’s main human character.

The reality was a bit uncomfortable at times.

“My mouth is all salt,” Baltes said, remembering the water, and the wetsuit, which was “a little bit too tight” under the arms.

Touching and even kissing a dolphin made up for any discomfort. Baltes and his mother said the animal’s skin was surprisingly dry, and smooth like a glossy photograph.

Despite the wonder of the trip, the family almost didn’t go. For 20 years, the dream had seemed too big. Baltes and his mother, Blanche Ruggiero, initially planned to take a more traditional vacation to Las Vegas this year — no dolphins. Ruggiero worried at first that her son wasn’t strong enough to swim in the deep.

But then they found a Las Vegas hotel that lets guests act as dolphin trainers for a day: Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at The Mirage.

The controlled habitat seemed like a perfect fit, and the family needed to get away.

“Sometimes, I’ve got some problems,” Baltes said. He was diagnosed with diabetes three years ago. His mother also has diabetes, though it’s milder, and his stepfather is recovering from a heart attack.

For Ruggiero, learning that her son had diabetes was crushing. While Down syndrome and diabetes both affect Baltes’ daily life, diabetes has been much harder to accept. It’s completely altered Baltes’ diet and the family’s daily life.

“I know if we do the wrong thing, it’s over,” Ruggiero said. “When the doctor told me he had Down syndrome, I thought my world was coming to an end — but I’d take 10 Down syndromes over diabetes,” she said.

Still, before the trip, his doctor said Baltes was in good shape.

Actually, the best shape he’s been in.

“I feel strong,” he said before leaving for Las Vegas. After the trip, Ralph Ruggiero said his stepson’s blood sugar was at a good level, lowered by the relaxation and fulfillment of seeing the dolphins.

“He’s been wanting to do it since he was a kid,” Ralph said.

Baltes and his mother see the adversity they’ve faced as tests of strength.

Besides dealing with diabetes, Baltes has been shunned before for his Down syndrome. A stranger in a bowling tournament once refused to play on his team. Still, Baltes doesn’t focus on being different — if other people have a problem, it’s theirs only.

Ruggiero sees it like this: Everyone is lacking in some skills. While Baltes doesn’t drive, he’s won medals at the Special Olympics. He tracks his own bowling scores and is getting close to bowling a perfect game. He likes the same things that many of his peers like, such as dancing, whether at the club where his aunt works or the jitterbug with his mother.

Baltes reads about war history and, of course, dolphins. He also bags groceries at the Cornersburg Sparkle on Western Reserve Road, and in the 14 years he’s worked there, he’s made close friends like Linda Dulay.

She goes to watch his bowling league games and the two often have lunch together at work. Dulay said she thinks of him like any other good friend. One day at lunch he told her about the planned trip, and even invited her to go along.

“I had tears in my eyes. I was just so happy for him that he had a chance to do something that he really dreamed of doing,” Dulay said.

To commemorate the occasion and his birthday, she got him a hanging beaded dolphin for his room, and a pop-up card with dolphins jumping and waves splashing, and a glass dolphin with a card describing inner strength — the kind that Baltes’ friends and family see in him.

Paul Iden coaches Baltes’ volleyball team, and the two have gone to the Columbus Special Olympics for eight years together, this year bringing back the gold. Iden agreed that diabetes had impacted Baltes’ life perhaps more than Down syndrome. Still, Iden has seen Baltes triumph in the past, and calls him the linchpin of the team.

“[Diabetes is] not going to slow him down for long,” Iden said. “Anything that Michael sets his mind to, he can accomplish.”

Back home after the trip, Baltes’ aunt Connie Precurato cried with Ruggiero as they thought about all that Baltes had achieved.

“It’s breathtaking to see the pictures,” Precurato said. “I can’t even look at them because its such an accomplishment.”

“Michael’s wanted to do this for 20 years,” Ruggiero said. “It makes me so proud,” because he made it happen.

rboccia@vindy.com