I lost my leg four years ago in a motorbike accident in Indonesia. Before my amputation, I was very active, spending a lot of my time surfing and backpacking in different countries around the world to experience their culture.
I played high-level sports earlier in my sporting life, with a key highlight competing in the 2015 World Championships for Ultimate Frisbee in Italy. Throughout my professional career, I was working as a Rope Access Technician, a labour-intensive job climbing around oil and gas facilities working 84-hour weeks. After my injury, my biggest concern was how I would earn money in the future if I couldn’t return to my job abseiling. I knew I needed to find a way to get back onto my feet for my own physical and mental well-being. It was a really tough period in my life. I made the proactive decision to put one foot in front of the other and choose to move forward and make the most of my life.
I played high-level sports earlier in my sporting life, with a key highlight competing in the 2015 World Championships for Ultimate Frisbee in Italy. Throughout my professional career, I was working as a Rope Access Technician, a labour-intensive job climbing around oil and gas facilities working 84-hour weeks.
After my injury, my biggest concern was how I would earn money in the future if I couldn’t return to my job abseiling. I knew I needed to find a way to get back onto my feet for my own physical and mental well-being.
It was a really tough period in my life. I made the proactive decision to put one foot in front of the other and choose to move forward and make the most of my life.
As soon as I was fitted with my leg, I started working to see what my mind and body were capable of, through hard and consistent training. I spent endless hours training in the gym and rediscovered my passion for pushing myself with the support of my network of family and friends around me.
People don’t realise how dark it gets after amputation and how much it takes to show up every day, not just to train, but to be present for your family and friends and complete small daily life tasks. Things could be going great for a few months; you’ve built all this muscle and strength and then somehow developed a pimple or tiny rubbing wound on your limb, and all of a sudden, you can’t walk for a month; and you lose all your hard work. Back to square one. I’m grateful for the support I’ve received, especially communicating with other amputees on social media who can relate and provide advice for what you are going through. It’s a tough mental marathon that never ends.
Only a few months after my amputation I got into indoor rock climbing. This was great because I could train and build strength, while having something to focus on which distracted me from the reality of losing my leg. For the first 6
months I didn’t use a prosthesis, I just hopped up to the wall and climbed with one leg. It was my goal to compete in the world stage. I got close and participated in some national climbing competitions, but unfortunately didn‘t have the means to travel to the world championships during Covid-19.
I was then encouraged to get into kayaking by friend and fellow amputee Kathleen O‘kelly–Kennedy who saw potential in my ability. I called the Australian coach and told him I was determined to get into the Tokyo Paralympics (top 2 in the country) and told him I was committed to focusing on that goal. I was training 6-8 hours everyday full time.
This was by far the hardest sporting endeavour I have taken on. I had no idea how hard this new sport was going to be. When I rocked up to the Olympic training squad at the NSW institute of sport I was humbled and put into my place. All I wanted to do was give up, but I just kept turning up and giving everything I had into each training session. Fast forward eight months and I was a proficient paddler, I could keep up with the able bodied squad, but it was torture. I wasn’t doing it for the right reasons.
This was a major turning point for me. Realising that passion and purpose are fundamental ingredients for long term success in anything you do. If I spent the same time, effort and energy focusing on surfing big waves, something I had already been doing my whole life, I could turn it into my career. After spending two seasons in Hawaii and six months in Portugal surfing the biggest waves in the world, I can say I have truly found my calling. Surfing big waves is what I want to do. I’m currently working part time in rope access to self fund my progression into the realm of big wave surfing. I hope to turn my dream into a reality and travel around the world surfing big waves full time with the help of financial sponsorship.
I am proud of my sporting achievements, however my goal of returning to work was equally important to me and an important milestone in my rehab. It took lots of training, along with a lot of mental and physical preparation to get back to working in oil and gas. I’m by no means back at the same level but hope to continue getting stronger to where I can return to those extended 2/3 week shifts working offshore.
The team at APC Prosthetics helped me get my socket in the shape I needed to be able to surf comfortably. They observed how my knee fits into the socket, and the way my knee moves inside the socket. My Prosthetist, Sarah McConnell has been there from the beginning; Sarah would go as far as to come and see me at the Mona Vale hospital which really helped me during that time. After spending lots of time working together, Sarah was open to working outside the rules of the textbook and together, we worked collaboratively to tailor the design of the socket so that I could use it the way I wanted to. I am also grateful for David and Cathy Howells; through their experience and knowledge, they were also a huge support. The three of them came together as a unit to support me.
How I care for my limb has been crucial to my success. I make sure to eat well, minimise alcohol and get lots of rest. I desensitise the limb which helps with strengthening the skin. My message to the community is that anything is possible if you put your mind to it and commit. Never give up; just keep going. You will have bad days; it’s up to you to sit with these, feel the emotions and know that there will be better days coming. The first 6 months are so tough. It’s really hard to find good information. I followed my intuition. A lot of people said I couldn’t do it. If you have passion and purpose, you can make anything work. It’s all about practice, patience and purpose.
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