Sailor kept at it despite paralysis

The Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the 57-year-old man who drowned when his catamaran overturned in the ocean off Kualoa Ranch this week as Dr. John Ross-Duggan — a Waialae-Kahala radiologist and an accomplished sailor.

The website Catsailor. com reported that Ross-Duggan, a quadriplegic, died doing what he loved — "sailing his Hobie Getaway in the surf with friends when they apparently capsized."

The website added that Ross-Duggan "was sailing with two crew and after the capsize, the mast came down. John was trapped under the boat. One of the sailors was a trained EMT (emergency medical technician), but was not able to revive him."

Ross-Duggan, a Newport Beach, Calif., native, was an accomplished Hobie Catamaran racer and even after a car accident at the age of 23, which caused the paralysis, "continued to follow his passion for sailing."

In a 1996 profile, the reported that sailing had been a big part of his life since he was 7. By the time he was 15, he placed seventh in the 1970 Hobie Nationals in Honolulu.

An automobile accident in 1978, after he had completed his third year of medical school, left him a quadriplegic. Six months later, after rehabilitation, he returned to medical school. Ross-Duggan went to the UC Irvine Medical Center for his four-year residency, then to Parkland Hospital in Dallas with a fellowship in neuroradiology before settling in Orlando, Fla.

Paramedics took Ross-Duggan in critical condition to a hospital Sunday after he was rescued at 3:50 p.m. He died an hour later.