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Speaker 1: We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land

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Speaker 1: on which this podcast was produced, the Galligle people of

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Speaker 1: the orination. We pay our respects to Elder's past and present.

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Speaker 2: It's March twenty sixteen and we're on Bombo Beach, about

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Speaker 2: two hours south of Sydney. Brett Canellen is here to

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Speaker 2: try and clear his head. He's had a bad day

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Speaker 2: and knows that grabbing his surfboard and heading for the

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Speaker 2: waves will be the antidote he needs. He's roped his

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Speaker 2: friend's jol and Aggie into the mood boosting trip. Brett

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Speaker 2: heads out into the surf. The sun is starting to

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Speaker 2: set and the conditions are good. Brett reflects on the day.

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Speaker 2: He thinks to himself, at least I've been able to

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Speaker 2: do something to make me feel better. But Brett's bad

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Speaker 2: day is about to become a total nightmare. He's thrown

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Speaker 2: off his board. The world goes silent. He's too afraid

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Speaker 2: to look down. He sees Joel with panic in his eyes,

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Speaker 2: racing towards him. I'm at Middleton and this is head

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Speaker 2: game today. Brett Connelan on the surf that changed everything.

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Speaker 2: Super stoked to have Brett Conelan on my podcast Head

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Speaker 2: Game Now, talk about Headgame Car. He's had to battle

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Speaker 2: some serious psychological and physical trauma. He's sitting opposite me

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Speaker 2: right now and I can see his leg and that

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Speaker 2: is quite the munch, Brett, Car. I can just by

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Speaker 2: looking at your leg, I can tell that you're super

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Speaker 2: lucky to have.

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Speaker 3: It right, Definitely lucky to have it. Calling it a

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Speaker 3: munch is definitely one way of describing It's.

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Speaker 2: Not some month has taken a big munch out of you.

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Speaker 4: Definitely. And it's quite an intro too, isn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to get straight into your sat

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Speaker 2: opposite there's no other intro to give. Wow, quite a

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Speaker 2: scene to see. And having sort of seen sort of

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Speaker 2: physical trauma in my career in the military and I'm

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Speaker 2: now sitting opposite you, I appreciate what goes into it

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Speaker 2: psychologically and the recovery. But have you always been attracted

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Speaker 2: to the water? You know, what was your upbringing?

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Speaker 3: Like? Yeah, I have always been in and around the ocean.

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Speaker 3: I grew up in a small seaside town and just

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Speaker 3: by virtue of proximity to the water, you get into

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Speaker 3: nippers and surf club and all these things. So from

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Speaker 3: a very very young age I was I was always

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Speaker 3: in the water, first of all, on a bodyboard. My

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Speaker 3: dad grew up as a surfer, so he spent time

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Speaker 3: trying to get family. So it wasn't until I was

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Speaker 3: eleven years old that I actually jumped on a surfboard

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Speaker 3: for the very very first time. And from that moment

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Speaker 3: I was one hundred percent just a pure surfer. I

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Speaker 3: did a bunch of other sports at that time in

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Speaker 3: my life and I dropped them all like and just

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Speaker 3: wanted to surf. So from that point, like you ask,

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Speaker 3: are you a surfer? Then definitely, when was your let's

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Speaker 3: call it your lucky break.

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Speaker 2: When did you realize, actually, this is something I can do,

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Speaker 2: you know, I could really really get my head into

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Speaker 2: and do professionally.

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Speaker 3: It was It wasn't until much later on, until when

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Speaker 3: I was about twenty one years old, is when I

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Speaker 3: had that realization. And I didn't have much success in

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Speaker 3: the early days of my surfing. I had success locally

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Speaker 3: in some of the competitions around where I live and

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Speaker 3: in board riders, but with the bigger competitions on like

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Speaker 3: a state in the nationwide level, I had always really

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Speaker 3: struggled to get past the second or third round, and

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Speaker 3: I kind of got to the age of leaving school,

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Speaker 3: like eighteen years old, and I was faced with the

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Speaker 3: decision of what what do I do with my life?

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Speaker 3: Like I had no real solid results that would indicate

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Speaker 3: that I was going to become a professional surfer, but

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Speaker 3: I still wanted surfing to be a big part of

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Speaker 3: my life. So I actually moved to the Gold Coast

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Speaker 3: for university and did Surfing Studies, which sounds like the

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Speaker 3: most ridiculous, bizarre course that you could ever do in Australia,

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Speaker 3: not in Australia exactly. It's the main reason I wanted

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Speaker 3: to do that was it It's a course that gives

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Speaker 3: you a look at a bunch of different subjects that

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Speaker 3: they're all surfing specific. So you'll do marketing and events

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Speaker 3: management and hopefully you'll find something that you want to

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Speaker 3: do that you can follow a career with later on.

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Speaker 3: But that was one reason that I did it. I

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Speaker 3: knew it would give me options, especially if the surfing

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Speaker 3: thing didn't work out. But the Gold Coast is really

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Speaker 3: where the surfing scene is in Australia, and moving up

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Speaker 3: to there, I knew I was going to at least

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Speaker 3: have a chance to be seen and noticed, and I'd

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Speaker 3: be able to enter a few more events. And when

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Speaker 3: I was up there, I loved doing my UNI, and

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Speaker 3: it's where I got my first ever proper sponsor. Was

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Speaker 3: up there, just surfing a beach one day and a

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Speaker 3: guy who made surfboards came up to me and said

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Speaker 3: he really liked to look my surfing.

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Speaker 4: He wanted to support me.

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Speaker 3: And that confidence, yeah, really really cool, and that confidence

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Speaker 3: that built. I ended up moving back from the Gold Coast. Essentially,

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Speaker 3: I got sick of how busy it was up there.

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Speaker 3: A small town. I'd go for a surf at home,

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Speaker 3: there's like three or four people out, whereas you for

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Speaker 3: a surf at Snapper Rocks or anywhere up there, and

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Speaker 3: it's hundreds and I'd always I found it really difficult

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Speaker 3: not to be able to find that little pocket or

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Speaker 3: that corner to myself.

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Speaker 4: So I moved home for that.

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Speaker 2: But when I did the surfing was you're making decisions

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Speaker 2: on your career, on your life due to surfing exactly. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: you're living and breathing it. Let's be honest, you know UNI,

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Speaker 2: You're loving your UNI. But this is what you want

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Speaker 2: to do.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And my mindset and the reason I did the

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Speaker 3: UNI was I've always want to leave the door open

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Speaker 3: for professional surfing if it's available, if I keep improving

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Speaker 3: and things get better, but you've got to be realistic

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Speaker 3: and I wanted to back myself up with a career.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, there was a lot of decisions.

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Speaker 3: That were made that I guess from the outside they

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Speaker 3: look like they are very very much driven by the

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Speaker 3: love of surfing, which which they absolutely were. So when

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Speaker 3: I moved home, I had kind of settled back into

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Speaker 3: working for a surf shop down in Woongone, close to

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Speaker 3: where I live. I was surfing riding for a new

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Speaker 3: surfboard shaper, a new sponsor that I was also working for,

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Speaker 3: and had actually started surfing for my local board riders

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Speaker 3: team that I grew up surfing for again. And this

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Speaker 3: event popped up called the Australian Board Riders Battle, and

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Speaker 3: it's like a team's event where you surf for your club.

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Speaker 3: So I had all these people that had grown up

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Speaker 3: surfing for as a team of six. You go and

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Speaker 3: surf against all the other board riders clubs in the area.

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Speaker 3: And they had one event which was at Bombo Beach,

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Speaker 3: my local beach.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 3: It was me, Me and a couple, a couple of

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Speaker 3: older guys who had been in the club for a

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Speaker 3: long time, and a couple of the younger surfers as well,

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Speaker 3: and we ended up winning this competition and it's the

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Speaker 3: first competition that our club had won in over twenty years,

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Speaker 3: so it was really big for our club.

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Speaker 4: But what it did is it qualified as.

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Speaker 3: For the national final of this event, so all the

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Speaker 3: teams from all over Australia come to it was in

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Speaker 3: Cronulla that year and compete against each other.

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Speaker 2: Do you remember that moment Do you remember thinking wow,

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Speaker 2: this could potentially be a game changer for me?

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Speaker 3: Not immediately. It wasn't until I was actually at the

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Speaker 3: event that it all hit me. So the unique thing

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Speaker 3: about this event is it was the only event at

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Speaker 3: the time where the World Tour actually permitted their surfers

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Speaker 3: to compete in. So usually if you're on the World Tour,

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Speaker 3: you can only compete in World Tour sanctioned events. So

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Speaker 3: there are some of the best surfers like Mick Fanning

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Speaker 3: Owen right, like all these other great surfers who were

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Speaker 3: just surfing for their local clubs. So when I realized

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Speaker 3: it was actually an opportunity to go up against these

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Speaker 3: people that I dreamed of going up against and surfing against,

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Speaker 3: I realized that was probably the opportunity, and that the

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Speaker 3: weekend came around for the event and we did better

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Speaker 3: than expected.

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Speaker 4: So we came sixth overall, So the sixth best club

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Speaker 4: in Australia.

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Speaker 3: That's big and it was something that when I actually

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Speaker 3: got to sit back and realize what we'd done in

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Speaker 3: the space of having a club that hadn't won an

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Speaker 3: event in decades to being the sixth best in Australia

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Speaker 3: against some of the best surfers in the world, I

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Speaker 3: realized that, you know, maybe I do belong I think

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Speaker 3: being able to surf against some of the best and

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Speaker 3: perform and be satisfied, I almost gave myself permission to

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Speaker 3: believe that it's somewhere where I belonged.

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Speaker 2: So basically, you've got this opportunity at your feet, you

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Speaker 2: come six which is great, and then you have a

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Speaker 2: bad day. Right, talk to me about your bad day,

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Speaker 2: because what it leads on to is obviously the month

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Speaker 2: that I spoke about at the beginning of this podcast.

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Speaker 2: But go on how bad was the day?

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Speaker 3: So my day started out at two thirty am, received

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Speaker 3: a phone call from my boss of the surf shop

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Speaker 3: that I was managing at the time, saying the shop

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Speaker 3: had been broken into. So he said, there's nothing you

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Speaker 3: can do right now. Obviously I was leaving forty five

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Speaker 3: minutes away. You said, I just want to let you know,

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Speaker 3: so when you come in you know what to expect.

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Speaker 3: I think that's a bit of foreshadowing, Like if if

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Speaker 3: you knew what was to come, I probably should have

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Speaker 3: gone back to bed and like just called it quits

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Speaker 3: for the day. But you know, you only look at

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Speaker 3: these things in hindsight when something's happened, right, So I

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Speaker 3: going to work that day dealing with police, cleaning up broken.

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Speaker 4: Glass, doing all of that. So not a great day definitely.

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Speaker 3: Like I remember leaving work that day and I was like,

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Speaker 3: I just need to go for a So.

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Speaker 2: And what they've broken in that? Have they destroyed stuff?

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Speaker 2: If they pinched stuff.

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Speaker 3: They smashed the front window and stole anything that was

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Speaker 3: kind of within arms reach of the window, so it

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Speaker 3: sounds ridiculous, but they took like backpacks and socks and

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Speaker 3: things like that, which is I've always thought it was

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Speaker 3: silly because the surfboards that were on the rack are

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Speaker 3: worth one thousand dollars.

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Speaker 4: But you can't run away with several surfboards.

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Speaker 3: It's you know, it's always going to be a bad

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Speaker 3: day if anything gets broken into no doubt. So I

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Speaker 3: leave the shop that day and I get in the car.

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Speaker 3: I sent two messages to both my mates. One to

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Speaker 3: my good friend Nick, who I grew up surfing with,

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Speaker 3: and another one to a good friend of mine, Joel,

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Speaker 3: who I.

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Speaker 4: Had spent a bit of time living with.

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Speaker 3: And he's someone who i'd always kind of send a

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Speaker 3: message to because he's got the camera.

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Speaker 4: He'd always come and take photos or film or something

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Speaker 4: like that.

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Speaker 3: So send a message to Nick, and I was like,

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Speaker 3: can go and go for a surf out Bombo when

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Speaker 3: I get back. I don't know what it's like, but

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Speaker 3: I'm going to go out there and send the same

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Speaker 3: message to Joel. Nick messaged me and just said I'm

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Speaker 3: not going to make it, but Joel said, yeah, I'll

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Speaker 3: try and get down there. I got to the beach

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Speaker 3: after driving home, so forty five minutes later, Joel.

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Speaker 2: What time will we time? Do you hit the beach?

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Speaker 4: Roughly just so about quarter to six?

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Speaker 2: Who quarter six at night?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so the sun's so it's.

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Speaker 3: Late issue moon to late afternoon at that stage, like

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Speaker 3: it is. It's March, so the days are still semi long.

224
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Speaker 3: But yeah, I get there and obviously Nick's not there,

225
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Speaker 3: and Joel's also not there. Joel is notorious for being late.

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Speaker 3: Is that mate that if you called to do something,

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Speaker 3: you're probably better off calling him an hour before, so

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Speaker 3: he can get there still a little bit late, but

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Speaker 3: not as late as what he would So I rock

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Speaker 3: up in the waves look really fun. So I'm like, okay,

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Speaker 3: I'll just go out anyway. And I go down to

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Speaker 3: the beach and there's a bunch of people surfing right

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Speaker 3: up in the northern corner. And as I said, I'm

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Speaker 3: not a big fan of surfing with these people a

235
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Speaker 3: lot of the time, and especially after that day, I

236
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Speaker 3: was like, I kind of just need to be by

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Speaker 3: myself rather than people ask me, you know what I

238
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Speaker 3: think about surfboards and fins and things like that.

239
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Speaker 4: So I spot a little left.

240
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Speaker 3: Hand bank down the beach and I'm like, okay, we'll

241
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Speaker 3: just go and surf there. I'll be by myself. That'll

242
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Speaker 3: be fun. So I'm sitting out there surfing for about

243
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Speaker 3: twenty minutes, thirty minutes before I look in and Joel

244
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Speaker 3: rocks up.

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Speaker 4: So it's good. He's that's pretty on time for Joel,

246
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Speaker 4: which is good.

247
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Speaker 2: So you're pretty impressed with him at this time.

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Speaker 4: I am. I am. So he rocks up, he paddles out,

249
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Speaker 4: and we share a few waves.

250
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Speaker 2: Now, did that put a smile on your face? You know,

251
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Speaker 2: I know that you want to be alone, but you've

252
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Speaker 2: obviously called him for a reason. You've had a crappy day.

253
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Speaker 2: Do you feel better already just hitting the water.

254
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Speaker 3: Yeah, Like I know that I'll always be happier in

255
00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:15,040
Speaker 3: the ocean. There's something about being in the salt and

256
00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:17,760
Speaker 3: just surfing that it's always made me feel good, so

257
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Speaker 3: I know it has that, But also like being able

258
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Speaker 3: to share that with someone and talk about the day,

259
00:12:22,559 --> 00:12:23,240
Speaker 3: like that's.

260
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Speaker 4: What that was great for.

261
00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:27,520
Speaker 3: So Joel comes out, we share a few waves, I'm

262
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Speaker 3: telling him about the day, and.

263
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Speaker 4: You know, it's bye.

264
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Speaker 3: We'd probably been surfing for like another thirty forty minutes,

265
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Speaker 3: and by that stage I do have a little smile

266
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Speaker 3: on my face, like it hasn't fixed what happened, Like

267
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Speaker 3: it hasn't repaired the front window of the shot, but

268
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Speaker 3: I feel a lot better because of it, and I'm like, Okay,

269
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Speaker 3: at least you know this has all happened, so.

270
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Speaker 2: Yeah, what's done is done. Now it's time to yet.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

272
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Speaker 3: So Joel catches a wave and he gets quite a

273
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Speaker 3: nice wave. He's probably about one hundred and fifty meters

274
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Speaker 3: down the beach and I'm just sitting there reflecting on

275
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Speaker 3: the day that's happened, just thinking about where it started,

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Speaker 3: or obviously all the way back at two thirty am, thinking,

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Speaker 3: you know, it's been bad, but at least I've been

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Speaker 3: able to do this.

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Speaker 4: And I'm looking back towards the beach.

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Speaker 3: Joel's now wife, Aggie, she's on the beach, came down

281
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Speaker 3: to watch him surf, which she doesn't usually do. She's

282
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Speaker 3: sitting there in a blanket, watching the sun starting to

283
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Speaker 3: kind of go behind the mountain there. And as I'm

284
00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:25,719
Speaker 3: sitting there having that thought of like, at least I've

285
00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:27,760
Speaker 3: been able to turn this day around, I get hit

286
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Speaker 3: from my right side with immense force and I got

287
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Speaker 3: thrown off my surfboard and I land in the water.

288
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Speaker 3: And before I can even look around to figure out

289
00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:40,800
Speaker 3: what has happened, where it came from, what it is.

290
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Speaker 3: I look down as a shark biting into my leg.

291
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Speaker 2: So, Brette, your first knock is not the bite. No,

292
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Speaker 2: So the first knock is sort of like an Auca attack.

293
00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:03,000
Speaker 2: When they knock the knock the seals off the ice

294
00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:05,840
Speaker 2: and then they attack from So that's that's sort of

295
00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:07,200
Speaker 2: is a calculated attack.

296
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Speaker 4: It seems like, I mean, it feels like it.

297
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Speaker 3: It's one of those things you don't know in the moment,

298
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Speaker 3: but yeah, looking back on it, and it seems like

299
00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,920
Speaker 3: that was, you know, almost the intent of what was

300
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Speaker 3: absolutely so, yeah, I look down and I'm just looking.

301
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Speaker 3: I'm confronted because there's this shark biting into my leg,

302
00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:32,560
Speaker 3: and there's this there's this really clear moment where everything

303
00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:36,720
Speaker 3: just stops. And I know there's a lot of different

304
00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:40,160
Speaker 3: ways to try and describe this moment, but I think

305
00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:43,800
Speaker 3: the best way to try and talk about what it

306
00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:48,040
Speaker 3: felt like is just saying, there's a profound sense of

307
00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:52,760
Speaker 3: reality to the situation. You don't exactly know what's going

308
00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,680
Speaker 3: on or how bad it's going to be or anything

309
00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,800
Speaker 3: like that. You've got no thoughts other than this is real,

310
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Speaker 3: serious yeah, knowing what's happening, and obviously that moment where

311
00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:09,680
Speaker 3: time is kind of standing still, like you're just frozen.

312
00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:14,840
Speaker 3: And for me, like I remember just trying to actually

313
00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:19,000
Speaker 3: take stock of what's happening, and there's there's probably three

314
00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:22,160
Speaker 3: main things that I can recall from that. There's obviously

315
00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:24,360
Speaker 3: more that's going on, but three things that stand out

316
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Speaker 3: to me now.

317
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Speaker 4: The first one is the feel.

318
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Speaker 3: Of the shark's skin, so as it's biting down on

319
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Speaker 3: my leg, I'm trying to like almost push it away

320
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Speaker 3: and can feel this really rough skin on the top

321
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Speaker 3: of its nose.

322
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Speaker 4: The second thing is just the complete absence of sound.

323
00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:46,000
Speaker 3: There's no water splashing and yeah, there's no no even

324
00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:47,600
Speaker 3: like ringing sound.

325
00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:49,240
Speaker 4: It's just complete silence.

326
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Speaker 3: And this one is really interesting to me because I

327
00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:57,920
Speaker 3: know I'm screaming for help straight away because of what

328
00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:01,520
Speaker 3: Joel's recount is, but there's nothing for me, like it's

329
00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:05,000
Speaker 3: just total silence, and it's it's so eerie in that

330
00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:08,720
Speaker 3: moment because it doesn't feel real, like there's the things

331
00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:10,600
Speaker 3: don't line up, like you're looking down at something you

332
00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:13,280
Speaker 3: should be able to match things up, and it's not

333
00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:17,440
Speaker 3: computing exactly, so there's That's the second thing. And the

334
00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:18,840
Speaker 3: third thing I can remember is just the look in

335
00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,000
Speaker 3: the shark's eyes. Like I think a lot of people

336
00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:23,240
Speaker 3: think the defining look of a shark would be its

337
00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:25,920
Speaker 3: teeth and how sharp they are. But for me, when

338
00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:28,080
Speaker 3: you look at a shark's eye and it's it's got

339
00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:31,960
Speaker 3: no emotion, no feeling, it's just a black dot, and

340
00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:35,360
Speaker 3: that that for me is just terrifying, Like it's it's

341
00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:38,080
Speaker 3: something that you know, I say that, you know you

342
00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:39,840
Speaker 3: can't reason with it, you can't argue it, you can't

343
00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:43,600
Speaker 3: tell it to stop. There's there's just this feeling of

344
00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:46,320
Speaker 3: hopelessness within that moment that you're at the mercy of

345
00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:48,480
Speaker 3: this creature and there's just nothing that you can do

346
00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:52,920
Speaker 3: about it. And I think the hopelessness of that moment

347
00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,360
Speaker 3: kind of sums up the entire experience, Like I'm at

348
00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:58,920
Speaker 3: the mercy of this creature and there's not a whole

349
00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:00,560
Speaker 3: lot that I can do in this situation that's going

350
00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:03,680
Speaker 3: to make it better or help me get out of it.

351
00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:09,680
Speaker 3: And that that moment of you know, all of that

352
00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:11,359
Speaker 3: that I just described probably only happened in.

353
00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:14,239
Speaker 2: Two or three so split seconds, and that moment that

354
00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:16,959
Speaker 2: you have because I've experienced it when I've gone been

355
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,679
Speaker 2: into combat, when ultimately, when you're walking that line of

356
00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:22,920
Speaker 2: life and death, you know, there's you know, you're either

357
00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:24,399
Speaker 2: going to come out of it alive or you're going

358
00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:27,159
Speaker 2: to come out of it dead. There's no there's no complications,

359
00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:31,040
Speaker 2: there's no bs, you know, there's no it's it's as

360
00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:33,360
Speaker 2: pure cut as that. You call it the purest form

361
00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:37,880
Speaker 2: of life. And you do. You you can't make sense

362
00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,240
Speaker 2: of it, and like you said, you can't hear anything.

363
00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:45,280
Speaker 2: You can't you know, really make any any rational reality

364
00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:48,400
Speaker 2: of it. So therefore that there's those split seconds where

365
00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:50,920
Speaker 2: you just almost as if your whole body in your

366
00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:53,440
Speaker 2: mind is zoned out in that moment he said, you've

367
00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:57,080
Speaker 2: got your senses. Yeah, that's about it. It's a I've

368
00:17:57,119 --> 00:17:59,960
Speaker 2: experienced it before. But obviously you didn't have a shark

369
00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:04,480
Speaker 2: hanging off my leg, fortunately for me. But even that bump,

370
00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:05,960
Speaker 2: you didn't even know what was going well, you didn't

371
00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,680
Speaker 2: even know what was going on until what the shark

372
00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:11,760
Speaker 2: took the chunk out your leg? When did sort of

373
00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:14,560
Speaker 2: you know, you know, you sort of flash back into reality,

374
00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:17,359
Speaker 2: don't you, And you're just like Wow, what's happened here?

375
00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:18,960
Speaker 2: And how did you get out the water?

376
00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:21,400
Speaker 3: So that that takes a bit of time to kind

377
00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:25,120
Speaker 3: of get to that moment. I For the next little while,

378
00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:28,119
Speaker 3: I'm doing things, making decisions, trying to react, but I

379
00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:30,600
Speaker 3: don't think any of them were decisions that I consciously made.

380
00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:33,480
Speaker 3: Like we talked before about that gut instinct and how

381
00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:37,480
Speaker 3: that works. What happened after that, totally out of my control,

382
00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:40,720
Speaker 3: obviously worked out for the best. Because I'm alive. I'm

383
00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:44,159
Speaker 3: kind of in that frozen state, and I think the

384
00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:47,720
Speaker 3: first thing that anyone who has heard anything about being

385
00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:49,399
Speaker 3: attacked by a shark would assume that you have to

386
00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:51,880
Speaker 3: do in a moment like that is punch in the nose.

387
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:52,680
Speaker 4: Poke in the eyes.

388
00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:57,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, much easier said than done. I'll say I tried

389
00:18:57,760 --> 00:18:59,480
Speaker 3: to punch it in the nose, but if you've ever

390
00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:01,520
Speaker 3: tried to punch true water, nearly impossible.

391
00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:02,960
Speaker 4: Yeah, So that doesn't.

392
00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:07,719
Speaker 3: Work, and I make what is considered to be the

393
00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:09,520
Speaker 3: mistake of pulling away from the shark.

394
00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:12,680
Speaker 4: So this is how I lose the chunk of my leg.

395
00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:16,520
Speaker 3: So essentially, when a shark has a hold of your

396
00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:19,360
Speaker 3: leg and you pull away from it, it doesn't kind

397
00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:21,120
Speaker 3: of get the memo and let go that you don't

398
00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:23,119
Speaker 3: want to be bit by it. It holds onto that

399
00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:25,320
Speaker 3: chunk of flesh and as I pull away from it,

400
00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:30,120
Speaker 3: it just completely separated from my body. So it's a

401
00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:32,400
Speaker 3: gruesome thing to think about.

402
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:35,439
Speaker 4: I have no idea in the moment that that's what's happened.

403
00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,159
Speaker 2: You don't even know that half your leg ultimately is missing.

404
00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:41,359
Speaker 3: No, because the first that I the first thing that

405
00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:42,800
Speaker 3: I do is just know not to look down.

406
00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:46,119
Speaker 2: And this is something that I have survival mechanism, exact

407
00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:49,159
Speaker 2: survival mechanism, because you don't want to panic. See, you know,

408
00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,919
Speaker 2: something really bad has happened, but you don't want to

409
00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:55,560
Speaker 2: look at it and acknowledge it and then for it

410
00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:57,720
Speaker 2: to compute in your head because then panic will set in.

411
00:19:57,760 --> 00:19:59,800
Speaker 2: And it is a survival mechanism.

412
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:00,679
Speaker 4: It's really smart.

413
00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:03,800
Speaker 3: I didn't choose to do it, no, it just it

414
00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:06,639
Speaker 3: just happened that way, which I'm incredibly lucky. You know,

415
00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:08,800
Speaker 3: if I did look down and go into shock and panic,

416
00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:11,160
Speaker 3: the outcome, you know, I would.

417
00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:12,920
Speaker 4: Have started losing blood quicker. It would have been a

418
00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:13,400
Speaker 4: lot worse.

419
00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:17,000
Speaker 3: So again, instinct is a very strong force and I'm

420
00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:19,400
Speaker 3: lucky that that's the instinct that I have. So as

421
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,399
Speaker 3: it separates this chunk from my body, I obviously realized

422
00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:24,040
Speaker 3: that this is my chance to escape. So I put

423
00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:25,760
Speaker 3: my head down and just start swimming as hard as

424
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,520
Speaker 3: I can towards the beach, and I get about twenty

425
00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,639
Speaker 3: twenty five meters further in, and I have this this

426
00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:35,119
Speaker 3: is kind of where everything comes back. I have this thought,

427
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:37,479
Speaker 3: which is I wonder if it's going to come back

428
00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:42,040
Speaker 3: again to kind of give you this Where I was,

429
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:44,560
Speaker 3: where I was sitting when it first bit me, that

430
00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:48,960
Speaker 3: was probably about one hundred and fifty meters from the shore.

431
00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,919
Speaker 3: So I'm still not one hundred meters away from the

432
00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:56,000
Speaker 3: shore when I have that thought, and I look over

433
00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:59,520
Speaker 3: my shoulder because you've got to check. And when I

434
00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:02,560
Speaker 3: look over my shoulder, I see it rushing towards me

435
00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,800
Speaker 3: like it's right there. And again there's nothing now I

436
00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:07,640
Speaker 3: can do in that situation other than put my hands

437
00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:11,120
Speaker 3: out to try and stop it. And I'm right handed,

438
00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:13,240
Speaker 3: so my right hand's got pretty good aim. That lands

439
00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,879
Speaker 3: square on its nose. Luckily, my left hand takes a

440
00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:19,520
Speaker 3: little detour through its mouth, snags itself on a few teeth.

441
00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:23,480
Speaker 3: These are the not munch the cool scars, Like that's

442
00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:27,479
Speaker 3: just brushed against the tooth there and pulled this massive

443
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:29,600
Speaker 3: chunk of skin out of my palm. There's a couple

444
00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:33,639
Speaker 3: of other little cool teeth marks there, yeah, the cool scars,

445
00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:37,280
Speaker 3: but just from brushing against it. And obviously when I

446
00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:38,719
Speaker 3: realize where it is, I try and pull it out

447
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:41,320
Speaker 3: as fast as I can. And there's this next moment

448
00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:43,080
Speaker 3: where I've got like both hands on the nose of

449
00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:45,320
Speaker 3: the shark. It's pushed me through the water. I'm feeling

450
00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:47,480
Speaker 3: the power and the force that this thing's got as

451
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,639
Speaker 3: it's like kind of swimming me towards the beach, and

452
00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:53,120
Speaker 3: I'm like, how do I get away from this time?

453
00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:55,720
Speaker 3: Like I had to give up a large chunk of

454
00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:57,320
Speaker 3: my cord the first time, What's it going to take

455
00:21:57,359 --> 00:21:59,080
Speaker 3: this time to get away from it. That's like what

456
00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,320
Speaker 3: I'm trying to realize in that moment. Obviously this stage,

457
00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:04,359
Speaker 3: I've got a little bit more sense, and I'm starting

458
00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:09,439
Speaker 3: to actually compute things a little bit more, and I'm

459
00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:11,840
Speaker 3: looking around because I'm just trying to figure out what's available,

460
00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:13,359
Speaker 3: what I can do. I don't have my surfboard at

461
00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:15,160
Speaker 3: that stage, because when it hit me the first time,

462
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:17,760
Speaker 3: its teeth cuts through my leg rope. So when I

463
00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:20,800
Speaker 3: got thrown off my surfboarder, I was immediately disconnected from it.

464
00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:23,720
Speaker 3: So I'm looking around to see what I've got. I

465
00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:25,919
Speaker 3: don't have a surfboard, I don't have anything. And I

466
00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:28,880
Speaker 3: see a wave approaching because we're just inside where it's breaking,

467
00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:31,639
Speaker 3: and I think to myself, I think the only thing

468
00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:34,400
Speaker 3: I can do, like last ditch effort, really is when

469
00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:37,639
Speaker 3: the wave hits me and hits us, try and push

470
00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:39,480
Speaker 3: the shark to one side and just hope that that

471
00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:41,679
Speaker 3: way is going to push me into the beach. So

472
00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:43,960
Speaker 3: the waves approaching, I'm like, I hope this works, because

473
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,080
Speaker 3: if it doesn't, I'm like, I don't know what's going

474
00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:49,000
Speaker 3: to happen. Next the wave hits me, I pushed it

475
00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:52,680
Speaker 3: to the left and just immediately doing front flips underwater.

476
00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:55,960
Speaker 3: And that's obviously a good thing in this situation because

477
00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:59,800
Speaker 3: it's pushing me towards the beach and I surface after

478
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:02,160
Speaker 3: get then tumbled in quite a way and I'm actually

479
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:02,919
Speaker 3: able to stand up.

480
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:04,720
Speaker 4: I'm on the sand bank and it's about waste eap

481
00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:06,000
Speaker 4: the water, so it's good.

482
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:07,679
Speaker 3: It's washed me in quite a way. And I look

483
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,560
Speaker 3: up again, and luckily I don't see the shark another time.

484
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:12,919
Speaker 3: I look up and see my good mate Joel, just

485
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:14,760
Speaker 3: paddling towards me as fast as he can.

486
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:17,320
Speaker 4: So luckily he'd heard.

487
00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:20,159
Speaker 3: My screams back at the start when I couldn't hear anything,

488
00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:24,720
Speaker 3: and luckily he made the brave decision to paddle towards

489
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,520
Speaker 3: me instead of to the beach. And the first thing

490
00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:29,240
Speaker 3: he says, he looks back on. He says, it's the

491
00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:31,280
Speaker 3: dumbest thing to ask, but he says, is it bad.

492
00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:35,520
Speaker 4: I'm like, mate, I'm like, it's not good.

493
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:40,400
Speaker 3: So he realizes, like he can obviously he can see

494
00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:42,080
Speaker 3: the blood in the water. He can see how bad

495
00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:45,679
Speaker 3: it is just from where he is, and he just

496
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,199
Speaker 3: puts me on his surfboard and tries to get me

497
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:48,720
Speaker 3: into the beach.

498
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:50,920
Speaker 4: And he takes me all the way into the beach.

499
00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:53,119
Speaker 3: It takes quite a while because we get stuck in

500
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:55,960
Speaker 3: a little rip, and like it's one of those things

501
00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:59,000
Speaker 3: where I'm losing energy as we're getting close to the beach.

502
00:23:59,040 --> 00:23:59,600
Speaker 4: So I'm able to.

503
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:04,600
Speaker 2: Help and less losing consciousness. I can't imagine. I can't

504
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:09,600
Speaker 2: believe how switched on you were, because in a sense

505
00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,040
Speaker 2: of panic like that, especially when you start to realize

506
00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:15,080
Speaker 2: it's like, don't look behind, just just swim just you know,

507
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:17,359
Speaker 2: just just get out of here. And if you didn't

508
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:20,399
Speaker 2: have looked behind you, you didn't see, then you'd no

509
00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:22,960
Speaker 2: doubt not be here. You know, let's let's be honest,

510
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:27,520
Speaker 2: when do you first take a look? Obviously Joel's in there,

511
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,280
Speaker 2: you're on your board, you get when do you have

512
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,800
Speaker 2: the nerve to take a look to see, like Joel said,

513
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:35,879
Speaker 2: how bad it is because you didn't know at this stage.

514
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:39,000
Speaker 3: Right three weeks after it happened, I realized there was

515
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 3: nothing good was going to come from looking down at

516
00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:44,520
Speaker 3: the lake. I could sense just by the way that

517
00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:46,600
Speaker 3: Joel looked at it that there wasn't something.

518
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:49,080
Speaker 2: That So when you stand up in the in the sand, you.

519
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,880
Speaker 4: I can't feel anything. There's no pain the whole time.

520
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:56,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's so that's another thing that's kind of

521
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:58,080
Speaker 3: helping me there, that I just don't know.

522
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:00,280
Speaker 4: You're almost better off being blisfuly.

523
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:03,199
Speaker 2: Ye, naive to the to the attack.

524
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:06,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so I I didn't look for for a

525
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:08,680
Speaker 3: long time, but could easily tell just by not only Joel,

526
00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:10,639
Speaker 3: but as more people came over to try.

527
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,080
Speaker 4: And help how bad it was.

528
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:15,679
Speaker 3: So it was one of those things that almost paints

529
00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:19,119
Speaker 3: itself like in your own head, which is as you know,

530
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:23,480
Speaker 3: that can be its own, you know, struggle when it

531
00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:26,440
Speaker 3: comes to the expectations that you formed further down the track.

532
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,480
Speaker 4: But I wasn't thinking that far ahead at the time.

533
00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:32,320
Speaker 2: Wow, so you hit the hit the shore. What's your

534
00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:36,720
Speaker 2: last memory of of of sort of being on the

535
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,600
Speaker 2: shoreline once you're once you're you know you're safe.

536
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:40,160
Speaker 4: Yeah.

537
00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,960
Speaker 3: So I was conscious on the beach right up intol

538
00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:46,560
Speaker 3: the helicopter took me away. So I was there when

539
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:48,879
Speaker 3: Joel ran off to go and get help from his

540
00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:51,560
Speaker 3: partner Aggie. I was there when another bystander on the beach,

541
00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:53,560
Speaker 3: whose names John, came over and helped Joe tie the

542
00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:56,280
Speaker 3: torner cave. I could remember all the people who were

543
00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:58,320
Speaker 3: surfing on that bank further up in the north corner

544
00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:00,119
Speaker 3: as they came in one by one, and there's face

545
00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 3: that I know, and seeing the shock on their faces

546
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 3: and like I was almost I.

547
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:06,280
Speaker 2: See you're pretty coherent.

548
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:10,399
Speaker 3: I'm really like I I think I tried to stay

549
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:13,040
Speaker 3: as calm as I could throughout that situation, because if

550
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,840
Speaker 3: I was panicking, that wasn't going to be good. My

551
00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:18,880
Speaker 3: my tactic, I guess it would be, was when people

552
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:21,080
Speaker 3: had come up like a new person, I'd say how

553
00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:22,640
Speaker 3: are you to them? So I remember like my good

554
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 3: mate Geordie, who I did competitions with when I was younger.

555
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:26,240
Speaker 3: He came up and was like, hey, Jeordie, how are you?

556
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:30,240
Speaker 3: And he just looked at my leg and was like, big, yeah.

557
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:30,880
Speaker 2: I'm good buddy. Here.

558
00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:35,800
Speaker 4: You know I'm looking so good that Wow. I'm incredibly

559
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:36,399
Speaker 4: lucky to be live.

560
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:40,320
Speaker 3: Obviously, yeah, absolutely, I'm I'm lucky with where the shark

561
00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 3: bit me. It missed my femeral artery by two millimeters.

562
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:45,679
Speaker 3: If that had been seven, I would have made it

563
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:47,720
Speaker 3: to the beach. I was lucky that Joel was there,

564
00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:49,760
Speaker 3: obviously he would know his track record and being there

565
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:52,760
Speaker 3: on time. I was lucky to paddle towards me. I

566
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:54,920
Speaker 3: was lucky that his partner was on the beach that afternoon.

567
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:57,280
Speaker 3: She's an intensive care nurse, so the first respond is

568
00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:00,199
Speaker 3: an intensive care nurse. John that I mentioned before, off

569
00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:04,120
Speaker 3: duty nurse. I've spoken like I'm incredibly lucky to be here.

570
00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:07,800
Speaker 3: And I've spoken to those people about the incident, obviously

571
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,560
Speaker 3: long after it's been and I remember John saying that

572
00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:15,320
Speaker 3: for all the situations that he's been in, anything medically related,

573
00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:18,119
Speaker 3: anything emergency related, he said, that's the calmest that's been

574
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:20,600
Speaker 3: And he says he thinks it's just due to how

575
00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:23,800
Speaker 3: calm I was, and in which I guess I was

576
00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:27,600
Speaker 3: trying to manage things in that moment. I think that

577
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,600
Speaker 3: just my approach just came out of almost the fear of,

578
00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:34,520
Speaker 3: you know, knowing what could happen if it was as

579
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:37,520
Speaker 3: bad as what it could be. So I was almost

580
00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:40,960
Speaker 3: just trying to remain disconnected from it for as long

581
00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:43,280
Speaker 3: as I could, which explains not looking at the leg for.

582
00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:45,840
Speaker 2: Say, definitely defense mechanism.

583
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:48,439
Speaker 3: So like I having all those people do all the

584
00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:51,919
Speaker 3: right things on the beach is I can't credit them

585
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,080
Speaker 3: enough with saving my life and doing everything they could

586
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:58,400
Speaker 3: to get emergency services there in the helicopter. The last

587
00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:02,720
Speaker 3: memory I have was getting loaded into the helicopter and

588
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:04,560
Speaker 3: my mom and dad got down to the beach.

589
00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:07,240
Speaker 2: Oh your mom and dad were.

590
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:12,640
Speaker 3: They lived five minutes away, So that's its own thing

591
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:16,639
Speaker 3: like I up until that stage, like until my parents

592
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:20,000
Speaker 3: got there, it was very much process and survival and

593
00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:22,720
Speaker 3: all of these things. When they got there, that's when

594
00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:27,840
Speaker 3: emotion comes in. And that's emotion comes from seeing my

595
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:31,960
Speaker 3: mom obviously distraught, like she doesn't know what this situation

596
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:33,200
Speaker 3: is going to lead to, if it's going to be

597
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 3: the loss of her son, what that's going to be.

598
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:37,439
Speaker 3: It's really tough seeing your mom in a situation like that.

599
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:39,000
Speaker 3: I think I had a harder time seeing my dad

600
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:41,960
Speaker 3: in a situation like that, and the reason isn't easy

601
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:43,960
Speaker 3: to protect her is and I think just what the

602
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 3: situation was. So as my dad's worked in foreign rescue

603
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:51,120
Speaker 3: his whole life, so he arrived almost ready to jump

604
00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:53,200
Speaker 3: into action, like he's used to being a part of

605
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 3: these situations and knows how to help out, coordinate things,

606
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,320
Speaker 3: do all this, but instead of being able to do

607
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:02,120
Speaker 3: any of that, he's actually being held back, not being

608
00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:05,600
Speaker 3: able to do what's normal, And like, can you imagine

609
00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:07,440
Speaker 3: what that'll be like if you were in a situation

610
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,720
Speaker 3: like that and you can't you can't help. And there's

611
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,520
Speaker 3: there's actually a photo of me getting taken off the

612
00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:16,080
Speaker 3: beach and Dad just standing on the outside just looking

613
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:21,480
Speaker 3: like there's he's just stunning ghost, and that those emotions

614
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:26,200
Speaker 3: are what makes that whole situation so different in that

615
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:28,280
Speaker 3: moment to what it was the entire time.

616
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:28,760
Speaker 4: Up until there.

617
00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 2: And when the emotions kicked in. Was that did that

618
00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:34,120
Speaker 2: go from you going hey, hey, you doing mate to

619
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:36,880
Speaker 2: being in a different headspace?

620
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:37,960
Speaker 4: I would say so.

621
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:41,800
Speaker 3: But it's also the time in that whole scenario where

622
00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:46,360
Speaker 3: they'd given me painkillers and they'd started.

623
00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:46,880
Speaker 4: To really take over.

624
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:52,320
Speaker 3: So like there was as I'm getting, you know, loaded

625
00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:55,280
Speaker 3: onto the helicopter, I just remember Mum. She really wanted

626
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:58,240
Speaker 3: to come with me, but there was a tiny helicopter

627
00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:01,480
Speaker 3: and she couldn't come, and she was like she was

628
00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,440
Speaker 3: at that point where she was like, is this actually

629
00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:05,760
Speaker 3: going to be the last time I see my son?

630
00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:06,800
Speaker 3: I don't know if he's going to make it to

631
00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:08,480
Speaker 3: the hospital, and she's got to go sit in a

632
00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:10,360
Speaker 3: calf two hours to get to the hospital and not

633
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:11,600
Speaker 3: know what the outcome is going to be on the

634
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 3: other side. And I think there's that's like the last

635
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:20,360
Speaker 3: thought that I have as I as I go in

636
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:22,560
Speaker 3: there and end up getting knocked out by all these

637
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:26,560
Speaker 3: painkillers and things like that, So the do.

638
00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 2: You can't remember anything from the helicopter ride.

639
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:30,720
Speaker 3: I had a dream when I was on the helicopter,

640
00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:36,880
Speaker 3: which was a really strange dream. I essentially dreamt my recovery.

641
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:42,880
Speaker 3: So I dreamt waking up in hospital hearing that I had,

642
00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:45,000
Speaker 3: you know, these injuries to my leg and that I

643
00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:47,400
Speaker 3: had to learn how to walk. In in my dream, I'm

644
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:50,320
Speaker 3: like in the gym lifting weights, learning like slowly learning

645
00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:52,400
Speaker 3: how to walk and getting back to a normal life

646
00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:55,680
Speaker 3: and the now you can. Sometimes you have those dreams

647
00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 3: that are so real, but they also you know they're

648
00:30:58,840 --> 00:30:59,280
Speaker 3: a dream.

649
00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 2: Yea, yeah, it was.

650
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:03,320
Speaker 3: It was one of those ones. So it was almost

651
00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:05,640
Speaker 3: like this, it kind OF's nearing to the end of

652
00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:07,920
Speaker 3: the dream and you feel like you're almost got to

653
00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 3: go back to square one. I've never been someone who

654
00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 3: would consider myself, you know, typically spiritual in any sort

655
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,000
Speaker 3: of way, but I think there's something about that dream

656
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:22,120
Speaker 3: which was almost instructive of the recovery, even though it

657
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,240
Speaker 3: wasn't real, I think it at least showed me that

658
00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:27,680
Speaker 3: there's a narrative that you can tell yourself that it

659
00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:30,840
Speaker 3: can happen. And that's where I think in times of

660
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,280
Speaker 3: uncertainty and in times when your backs against the wall,

661
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:35,840
Speaker 3: a lot of the times, that's the only thing that

662
00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:38,360
Speaker 3: you've got, it's the only thing you can control. So

663
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,000
Speaker 3: I think I lean on that dream quite a lot

664
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:42,920
Speaker 3: when you know, I wake up in the hospital and

665
00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:45,680
Speaker 3: I am back at square one, and I'm like, this sucks,

666
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:48,040
Speaker 3: Like I've got to deal with this in real time

667
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:53,120
Speaker 3: now and go through everything. But there's that little piece

668
00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:56,680
Speaker 3: where you like, I kind of know that something can happen,

669
00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,120
Speaker 3: that something can be made of this situation, as bad

670
00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 3: as it can be, and like, at that stage, you

671
00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 3: don't really even know what the future is going to

672
00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:05,760
Speaker 3: look like, because I didn't know the full extent of

673
00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:08,200
Speaker 3: my injuries as of yet, and I didn't know what

674
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:10,360
Speaker 3: it was going to take to be able to get

675
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:13,320
Speaker 3: back to any sort of normality in my life. So

676
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:18,480
Speaker 3: that the dream itself is it's something that it could

677
00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:20,520
Speaker 3: easily just be looked at and been like, it's just

678
00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:23,920
Speaker 3: a dream, it's nothing, but you took holder that.

679
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:25,360
Speaker 4: I think, yeah, it was.

680
00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:27,320
Speaker 3: Again, it was one of the few things that I

681
00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:31,040
Speaker 3: had to kind of, you know, grab onto in those

682
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:32,080
Speaker 3: early days for sure.

683
00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:46,360
Speaker 2: So when do you actually realize the severity of the

684
00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:50,320
Speaker 2: shark attack. You know when you the first time you

685
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:51,520
Speaker 2: look at your leg.

686
00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:56,840
Speaker 3: So again, like, there's that happened three weeks after the attack,

687
00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:59,480
Speaker 3: so a lot happens in that time. The first time

688
00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,040
Speaker 3: I actually realized as the severity of the attack was

689
00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,560
Speaker 3: when the doctors were telling me about it. So they

690
00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:07,800
Speaker 3: come in early on after they've been able to assess it.

691
00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:11,400
Speaker 3: They're like, you've lost about three quarters of your left quad,

692
00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:13,080
Speaker 3: so it's pretty bad.

693
00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:14,720
Speaker 4: We're not sure if we're gonna have to amputate or not.

694
00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:17,320
Speaker 2: So there was a question that they might have to

695
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:18,280
Speaker 2: take it off completely.

696
00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:20,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, they were really unsure in the early days. They

697
00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:24,120
Speaker 3: were saying, we're still like they said, it was a

698
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:26,520
Speaker 3: mess when it first came in, covered in sand and

699
00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:29,120
Speaker 3: just bits everywhere, and they couldn't they couldn't really figure

700
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:31,800
Speaker 3: out what was left, what was taken. So they were

701
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:33,520
Speaker 3: really really unsure, and they're like, we don't know if

702
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:35,720
Speaker 3: there's been any damage to the actual bone, and if

703
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:37,400
Speaker 3: there's damage to the bone, they like, we will have

704
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:37,920
Speaker 3: to amputate.

705
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:40,360
Speaker 4: So I just remember the first time I heard them.

706
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:46,240
Speaker 3: Saying amputators scared me so much, And I just remember

707
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:48,440
Speaker 3: first of all just being like, if there's anything else

708
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:51,000
Speaker 3: we can do, like, I'll take that option. I don't

709
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:54,960
Speaker 3: care what, because there's something about like obviously there's a

710
00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:56,680
Speaker 3: point where it's not a choice and you don't really

711
00:33:56,760 --> 00:33:59,120
Speaker 3: get to choose whether your leg gets amputated or not.

712
00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:02,200
Speaker 3: But I just remember how the thought of after they

713
00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:05,040
Speaker 3: told me where the wound was and everything, the idea

714
00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:08,200
Speaker 3: of throwing away the knee down, which is perfectly fine.

715
00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:10,200
Speaker 3: I was like, I don't want to have to do that,

716
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:14,880
Speaker 3: like it's getting rid of good parts. So I was like,

717
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:16,719
Speaker 3: if there's anything, and they're like, we're looking into a

718
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:18,719
Speaker 3: few other things they can do. So they came back

719
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:22,280
Speaker 3: the day after and they like, we're looking into this operation,

720
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:24,640
Speaker 3: which is going to be a bit of an experiment

721
00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:26,239
Speaker 3: in a way, just to see what we can do.

722
00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:30,399
Speaker 3: What they ended up doing is they took my entire

723
00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:33,480
Speaker 3: left lap muscle from my back and they transplanted that

724
00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:36,319
Speaker 3: into my leg. So as you look at my munch

725
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:38,320
Speaker 3: leg that there is actually my back muscle.

726
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:41,799
Speaker 2: Oh way, bash your back muscle. Yeah.

727
00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:45,239
Speaker 3: So they take the lap muscle from the back transplant

728
00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:47,319
Speaker 3: that into the leg. Because it's about fifteen centimeters of

729
00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:50,120
Speaker 3: exposed bone that they've got to cover up, so they

730
00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:52,279
Speaker 3: put that in there. They connected blood supply to keep

731
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:54,480
Speaker 3: it alive. They connected nerve, which they say might make

732
00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:56,799
Speaker 3: it work at some point in the future, but it's

733
00:34:56,840 --> 00:34:58,759
Speaker 3: not about that. It's just about trying to stave off

734
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:01,320
Speaker 3: the imputation. So they do a bunch of skin grafts

735
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,879
Speaker 3: and that's what they did for the operation, and there

736
00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:07,319
Speaker 3: was so much uncertainty with that, but I was just

737
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:09,719
Speaker 3: happy that I had the chance to keep it. So

738
00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:12,240
Speaker 3: I was like, whatever, what they can do now, it's amazing.

739
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:14,680
Speaker 3: It is amazing what they can do in the operating theater.

740
00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:17,480
Speaker 3: One thing doctors haven't quite nailed though, is the delivery

741
00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:19,360
Speaker 3: of the prognosis, because they're like, we've been able to

742
00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:22,799
Speaker 3: do this great thing, but we don't think you're going

743
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:24,960
Speaker 3: to be able to walk again, and you're definitely not

744
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:29,120
Speaker 3: going to surf again. So that's reality coming straight back.

745
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:32,120
Speaker 3: So like, you get given this whole but then just

746
00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:36,680
Speaker 3: taken straight back away, and that was its own thing

747
00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:40,320
Speaker 3: to deal with. And I think another reason why it

748
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:42,080
Speaker 3: took me so long to look down at my leg

749
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:43,719
Speaker 3: is just because I knew if I was going to

750
00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:45,680
Speaker 3: look at it and it looked bad. I'd just fall

751
00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:49,200
Speaker 3: into believing what they'd said. So I was like, I

752
00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:50,960
Speaker 3: just want to put it off for as long as possible,

753
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:53,240
Speaker 3: focus on what I can. And it was hard because

754
00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:55,400
Speaker 3: I was getting some of the operations, especially when they

755
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 3: were changing my dressings where they lift my leg up

756
00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:03,480
Speaker 3: because I because I had no quad muscle to oppose

757
00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:06,080
Speaker 3: the hamstring, my leg was hyper flexible, so they could

758
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:07,400
Speaker 3: lift it up where it was like next to my

759
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:10,960
Speaker 3: head and I know it's right there and I'm I'm

760
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:13,520
Speaker 3: looking away, but I I'm.

761
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:17,280
Speaker 2: Just imagine you're going yeah, and I'm still not gonna

762
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,359
Speaker 2: you know that takes willpower maybe to be fair.

763
00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:24,480
Speaker 3: Well, I got a glimpse of it very early on

764
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,680
Speaker 3: where part of the dressing on the upper leg had

765
00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:30,880
Speaker 3: fallen down and that's where it's all stapled together, and

766
00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:32,440
Speaker 3: it just looked like a zipper that was trying to

767
00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:34,480
Speaker 3: pull apart, and I was like that again, it was

768
00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:36,360
Speaker 3: just reminded. I just didn't want to look at it.

769
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:42,399
Speaker 3: So throughout those three weeks, I'm obviously dealing with what

770
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:44,680
Speaker 3: life's going to look like. I'm trying to figure out

771
00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:49,200
Speaker 3: how to live life from there and there's obviously the

772
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:52,600
Speaker 3: reality of what that might look like, but then you're

773
00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:54,400
Speaker 3: also trying to give yourself that bit of hope of

774
00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:57,600
Speaker 3: being like, you know, maybe maybe maybe we can we

775
00:36:57,640 --> 00:37:02,080
Speaker 3: can do something to overcome this. And the first time

776
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:04,239
Speaker 3: I did look at the leg I had to kind

777
00:37:04,239 --> 00:37:06,040
Speaker 3: of get myself ready for it. I had to tell,

778
00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:07,880
Speaker 3: you know, people around me, Okay, this is going to

779
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:09,160
Speaker 3: be the day, and actually have a look.

780
00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:12,160
Speaker 4: And to be honest, it wasn't as bad as what I.

781
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:15,720
Speaker 2: Thought, which is that's a number bonus.

782
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:18,480
Speaker 3: Right it is, And I think it really kind of

783
00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:21,560
Speaker 3: just goes to show the way in which we can

784
00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:24,239
Speaker 3: paint those pictures in our heads of how bad and

785
00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:29,480
Speaker 3: how terrible things can be, and it's not always the case,

786
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:32,000
Speaker 3: but a lot of the time they're not as bad

787
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:36,080
Speaker 3: as what you think. And I think that was probably

788
00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:38,440
Speaker 3: I mean, it might have been a different story if

789
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:41,440
Speaker 3: I looked down and it was it was awful, But

790
00:37:41,719 --> 00:37:44,319
Speaker 3: I remember looking down and being like, we can work

791
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:47,200
Speaker 3: with this. It's not as bad as what I think.

792
00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:51,280
Speaker 3: And at that stage, I'd gotten a heap of support,

793
00:37:51,719 --> 00:37:55,520
Speaker 3: so I'd started getting messages from people, you know, friends,

794
00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:58,600
Speaker 3: family members, community, all of these people like people you

795
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:03,360
Speaker 3: wouldn't expect as well. Yeah, and then the surfing community worldwide.

796
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:07,800
Speaker 3: I remember when I was growing up, there's a surfing

797
00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:11,960
Speaker 3: magazine called STAB Magazine, and it was my favorite magazine.

798
00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:13,440
Speaker 4: My dream for so long is to.

799
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:17,080
Speaker 3: Get a video featured on their website, and it wasn't

800
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:18,880
Speaker 3: until I was attacked by a shark and they did

801
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:21,200
Speaker 3: a story on it that one of my videos that

802
00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:23,960
Speaker 3: I did with Joel made it onto their website and

803
00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:26,520
Speaker 3: people actually saw it and loved it, and I started

804
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:29,279
Speaker 3: getting support off that, started getting people like Owen and

805
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:31,759
Speaker 3: Mick Fanning and Kelly Slater sending me messages and I was.

806
00:38:31,719 --> 00:38:33,080
Speaker 2: Like, oh, wow, that's cool.

807
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:37,440
Speaker 3: The support that you receive in those times is it's incredible.

808
00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:40,719
Speaker 3: And I don't think you realize the support that you

809
00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:44,160
Speaker 3: have until something bad happens, and it's honestly, it's a

810
00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:47,319
Speaker 3: terrible way to find out. And I felt all of that,

811
00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 3: and there's one person who's part of that support, who

812
00:38:50,239 --> 00:38:54,240
Speaker 3: I credit with essentially i'd say, changing my life, definitely

813
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:57,080
Speaker 3: changing the course of my recovery. So I'm laying in

814
00:38:57,080 --> 00:38:59,200
Speaker 3: hospital one day and I get a text message come through.

815
00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:02,879
Speaker 3: It's from a number that I don't know. But guy

816
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:05,200
Speaker 3: introduces himself. He says, hey, my name Scott. Actually went

817
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:08,880
Speaker 3: to school with Joel. I'm a physiotherapist from a local

818
00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:12,520
Speaker 3: physiotherapy clinic in Kayama, so very close to to where

819
00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:14,680
Speaker 3: I live. He kind of he'd heard about me and

820
00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:17,600
Speaker 3: my story and he just wanted to offer his services

821
00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:20,960
Speaker 3: in physiotherapy to help me get better. And he said, look,

822
00:39:20,960 --> 00:39:23,000
Speaker 3: you've obviously got a long road ahead of you. We said,

823
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:25,759
Speaker 3: people failed not from aiming too high and missing, but

824
00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:28,640
Speaker 3: from aiming too low and hitting. He said, look ab

825
00:39:28,719 --> 00:39:33,200
Speaker 3: with determination and set lofty goals. And I remember steering

826
00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:36,520
Speaker 3: at that message for a good ten to fifteen minutes

827
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:40,640
Speaker 3: and just thinking about essentially what it meant. And the

828
00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:42,880
Speaker 3: first thing, like, I had to figure out what it

829
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:44,799
Speaker 3: means to aim too low and to miss, because that's

830
00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:47,080
Speaker 3: something that we don't really think about all that often.

831
00:39:47,840 --> 00:39:50,760
Speaker 3: And I guess the best way I used to describe

832
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:53,480
Speaker 3: it is like, and you'd have to excuse the lack

833
00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:55,640
Speaker 3: of a better metaphor and a story about a shark attack,

834
00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:57,439
Speaker 3: but what it means to aim too low and to miss,

835
00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:00,480
Speaker 3: it's the equivalent of like choosing to go fish in

836
00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:02,920
Speaker 3: a puddle or a pond as opposed to the vast

837
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:05,759
Speaker 3: open ocean. Yeah, the puddle in the pond can be

838
00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:08,760
Speaker 3: safe and comfortable, but you're fishing there at the expense

839
00:40:08,840 --> 00:40:11,560
Speaker 3: of Yeah, of course. So it got me to look

840
00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:14,200
Speaker 3: at the goal that I was going to set. So

841
00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:16,440
Speaker 3: I had to look at what it meant to be

842
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:19,040
Speaker 3: ambitious and to set a lofty goal, but also what

843
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:21,400
Speaker 3: it means to miss and what failure you know, what

844
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:24,520
Speaker 3: role failure plays. And I realized the only thing that

845
00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:27,439
Speaker 3: would stop me from setting a lofty and ambitious goal

846
00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:30,640
Speaker 3: from that point was the fear of failure, which was

847
00:40:30,719 --> 00:40:32,480
Speaker 3: kind of easy for me to cast aside at that

848
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:35,120
Speaker 3: point in time because I had no other options. There

849
00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:38,759
Speaker 3: was only really opportunity in front of me. And we

850
00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:42,200
Speaker 3: talked about, you know, that regret. I didn't want to

851
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:44,040
Speaker 3: look back and didn't think I made the most of

852
00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:45,719
Speaker 3: my recovery. So I just replied to Scott and said,

853
00:40:45,719 --> 00:40:48,440
Speaker 3: you think I'll be able to surf again? And he

854
00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:51,279
Speaker 3: was like, yeah, because if that's your thought that.

855
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:55,279
Speaker 2: The doctor said you not, you'd be lucky if you

856
00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:58,480
Speaker 2: walk again, let alone surf, And so you went straight

857
00:40:58,560 --> 00:40:58,960
Speaker 2: up to.

858
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:00,440
Speaker 4: I went straight straight to me.

859
00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:06,920
Speaker 3: And it's obviously, like it can seem silly to a

860
00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:09,120
Speaker 3: lot of people to be like, why would you know

861
00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:10,960
Speaker 3: have the hubris to think that you can do that?

862
00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:15,120
Speaker 3: But I think just hearing Scott's encouragement, like he was like, mate,

863
00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:17,120
Speaker 3: if that's your thought, that's all we need, shows me

864
00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:19,719
Speaker 3: your intention. I'll set up a recovery program that will

865
00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:21,520
Speaker 3: head us in the direction of helping you surf again.

866
00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:23,680
Speaker 3: He said, I have no idea how far we'll get,

867
00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:26,319
Speaker 3: but at least let's give it a crack. That that

868
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:29,920
Speaker 3: for me, kickstarted my recovery Like it didn't happen overnight,

869
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:33,839
Speaker 3: took time, but working closely with Scott, he was the

870
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:35,680
Speaker 3: perfect person to help me get through it. Like I

871
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:40,440
Speaker 3: can't credit him enough with helping me get through that obviously,

872
00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:41,920
Speaker 3: Like I'm the one that has to get in there

873
00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:44,640
Speaker 3: every single day and do the work, but without having

874
00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:48,880
Speaker 3: him believe in me and actually support me through that,

875
00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:51,680
Speaker 3: like it was good to It's really good to have

876
00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:55,520
Speaker 3: someone who can help you physically work your way through it,

877
00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:57,040
Speaker 3: but then to be there as a friend and a

878
00:41:57,080 --> 00:41:59,399
Speaker 3: mate and a supporter who wants the best for you

879
00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:03,600
Speaker 3: like that, I think is a pretty unstoppable combination. So

880
00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:06,600
Speaker 3: he helped me massively over the coming months as we

881
00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:08,360
Speaker 3: worked our way through this recovery.

882
00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:13,040
Speaker 2: How long after until you let's let's get past the

883
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:15,759
Speaker 2: walking bit, let's go straight to this. So how long

884
00:42:16,440 --> 00:42:19,320
Speaker 2: after till you jumped on a surfboard and you caught

885
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:22,680
Speaker 2: your first wave after the shark attack?

886
00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:25,520
Speaker 4: It was five months after the attack.

887
00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:30,200
Speaker 2: Five months? Yeah, that's it. That's that's it. Which is

888
00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:31,680
Speaker 2: he's going to say five years?

889
00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:35,840
Speaker 3: No, So it's it's something. I It was the longest

890
00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:38,240
Speaker 3: five months of my life. Obviously, time is different depending

891
00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:40,800
Speaker 3: on the way in which I know. A lot of

892
00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:42,200
Speaker 3: people look at it in that way and they say

893
00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:44,719
Speaker 3: five months is like nothing. It wasn't not as bad

894
00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:46,239
Speaker 3: as what it was, And I was like, no, to

895
00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:49,920
Speaker 3: be honest, I when I set myself that goal of

896
00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:52,200
Speaker 3: wanting to surf against it was the only thing I

897
00:42:52,239 --> 00:42:53,040
Speaker 3: cared about.

898
00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:54,919
Speaker 4: I was incredibly.

899
00:42:54,360 --> 00:42:56,960
Speaker 3: Lucky that I had all those people supporting me that

900
00:42:57,080 --> 00:42:59,319
Speaker 3: set up that basically put me in a position where

901
00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:01,719
Speaker 3: they were like, your recovery is your full time job

902
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,840
Speaker 3: right now. So I was doing it seven days a

903
00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:07,919
Speaker 3: week and going in every single day obsessed with it,

904
00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:11,439
Speaker 3: and it wasn't obsessed in the way that I had

905
00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:13,919
Speaker 3: to go in there and be the best every single day,

906
00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:16,759
Speaker 3: Like it was just my mindset was actually just to

907
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:18,120
Speaker 3: show off every single day and trying to be a

908
00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:20,120
Speaker 3: little bit better than the person I was yesterday.

909
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:23,720
Speaker 4: As well over and over again. Yeah, and that.

910
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:28,040
Speaker 2: Those tiny percentages isn't it is tipping up you know,

911
00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:30,800
Speaker 2: zero points zero one more of a percent than you

912
00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:34,600
Speaker 2: did yesterday. This zero to one hundred doesn't exist, you know.

913
00:43:34,719 --> 00:43:37,239
Speaker 2: It's it's about acknowledging that it's going to know, it's

914
00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:39,319
Speaker 2: going to take time. And but as long as you're

915
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:42,279
Speaker 2: on that trajectory of you know, and it's going up

916
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:45,680
Speaker 2: tiny substrata of a percentage at the time, then you

917
00:43:45,719 --> 00:43:47,440
Speaker 2: know you're winning. That are small victories that you.

918
00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:48,320
Speaker 4: Need right exactly.

919
00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:52,560
Speaker 3: And those victories, it's funny in a recovery like that,

920
00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:54,960
Speaker 3: those victories are really easy to see in the early days,

921
00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:56,640
Speaker 3: like you make a huge amount of progress.

922
00:43:56,960 --> 00:43:59,960
Speaker 4: They get smaller as time goes on. And that's that's.

923
00:44:00,239 --> 00:44:04,120
Speaker 3: Where recovery does get difficult. When you're really really close

924
00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:08,400
Speaker 3: to your goal and it's right there, but you just

925
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:10,960
Speaker 3: can't jump there. You have to kind of trust that

926
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:12,640
Speaker 3: you are still doing the right thing and you are

927
00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:16,160
Speaker 3: going to get there. But that's really really tough to

928
00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:19,279
Speaker 3: deal with. As much as it looks like you're you know,

929
00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:20,879
Speaker 3: when you look back at where you started and where

930
00:44:20,880 --> 00:44:22,719
Speaker 3: you are, you should be so proud of getting to

931
00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:25,200
Speaker 3: that point, but you just want to get that little

932
00:44:25,200 --> 00:44:27,360
Speaker 3: bit more and that little bit more. That for me,

933
00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:30,319
Speaker 3: was probably the hardest part of my recovery, and that's

934
00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:32,640
Speaker 3: where I really had to lean on a lot of

935
00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:33,800
Speaker 3: that support.

936
00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:34,080
Speaker 4: That was around me.

937
00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:37,000
Speaker 3: And I've mentioned Owen Write's name a few times as

938
00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:39,280
Speaker 3: we've been talking. I know you've chatted to him before.

939
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:41,839
Speaker 3: I just ran into him at a local cafe when

940
00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:44,719
Speaker 3: he was going through his injury. And one of the

941
00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:46,600
Speaker 3: big things that helped me through that back half my

942
00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:49,480
Speaker 3: recovery was after I chatted to him and saw some

943
00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:51,960
Speaker 3: of the struggles that he was going through, it made

944
00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:54,960
Speaker 3: me realize that it wasn't just specific to me, like

945
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:58,000
Speaker 3: these are things that everyone has to deal with, and

946
00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:00,640
Speaker 3: I think there's a bit of comfort you can take

947
00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:03,359
Speaker 3: in knowing that people have been through those tough times

948
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:05,880
Speaker 3: before and they've gotten through them and you can do

949
00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:07,319
Speaker 3: the same. And I think that was one of the

950
00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:10,200
Speaker 3: things that got me over that last fifteen percent to

951
00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:11,360
Speaker 3: the point of surfing again.

952
00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:14,000
Speaker 2: Love it, mate, love it. And what I find fascinating

953
00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:16,520
Speaker 2: about this story and there was an opportunity to have

954
00:45:16,600 --> 00:45:23,399
Speaker 2: the shark cold and you said no, you didn't even

955
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:24,960
Speaker 2: question that. The answer, did you?

956
00:45:25,160 --> 00:45:27,799
Speaker 3: Is like no, no, exactly when you grow up a

957
00:45:27,840 --> 00:45:31,000
Speaker 3: surfer and you're going into that environment every single day,

958
00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:35,160
Speaker 3: you know that that's their home, like it's it's something.

959
00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:40,040
Speaker 3: I in no set of circumstances, could have felt any

960
00:45:40,080 --> 00:45:43,040
Speaker 3: sort of malice towards the shark, just based on who

961
00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:46,719
Speaker 3: I grew up as a surfer, believing like it's it's

962
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:50,680
Speaker 3: something that it wasn't even a question. And I think

963
00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:54,000
Speaker 3: I didn't feel this in the moment, but this is

964
00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:56,239
Speaker 3: something I've gained with a bit of perspective and some

965
00:45:56,320 --> 00:46:00,759
Speaker 3: time to think about it. I, despite what happened to me,

966
00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:03,800
Speaker 3: have a huge amount of love and respect for sharks.

967
00:46:04,360 --> 00:46:08,400
Speaker 3: I think they are incredible creatures. I don't recommend you

968
00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:10,640
Speaker 3: finding that out the way that I found it out,

969
00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:16,200
Speaker 3: but they are just simply amazing creatures. I think if

970
00:46:16,880 --> 00:46:20,120
Speaker 3: if you are questioning how you feel about sharks, go

971
00:46:20,239 --> 00:46:25,200
Speaker 3: swimming with sharks obviously with professional healthier I've done that

972
00:46:25,239 --> 00:46:28,040
Speaker 3: since the attack. Best experience of my life, like seeing

973
00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:32,400
Speaker 3: them in the ocean just glide effortlessly through the water.

974
00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:37,279
Speaker 3: That I think you when you can start to appreciate

975
00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:40,319
Speaker 3: this creature that's been developed over three hundred and fifty

976
00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:44,200
Speaker 3: million years, it's it's an incredible thing that we are

977
00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:46,640
Speaker 3: kind of lucky to be able to share the planet with.

978
00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:49,840
Speaker 3: And I think, you know, there's there's probably people that

979
00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:52,000
Speaker 3: can hear me say that and still say I'd want

980
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:53,839
Speaker 3: the shark killed no matter what, Like it took something

981
00:46:53,880 --> 00:46:54,920
Speaker 3: from me, and I want to take that.

982
00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:56,239
Speaker 4: I want to take something from it.

983
00:46:57,040 --> 00:47:00,360
Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, like the the

984
00:47:00,400 --> 00:47:03,720
Speaker 3: menta that I've kind of lived by since the attack

985
00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:06,040
Speaker 3: is that it's not about what happens to you. It's

986
00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:08,160
Speaker 3: not about sharktack, it's not about any of that. Like

987
00:47:08,200 --> 00:47:11,879
Speaker 3: what truly matters is how you respond, because that's where

988
00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:15,600
Speaker 3: pride lives. And I think if that pride can come

989
00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:19,479
Speaker 3: in the form of a recovery that you put everything into,

990
00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:22,000
Speaker 3: when you achieve your goals and you can look back

991
00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:24,040
Speaker 3: with and know that you're stronger because of it, and

992
00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:27,279
Speaker 3: you can overcome anything. That's one part of pride, But

993
00:47:27,320 --> 00:47:30,000
Speaker 3: I think the other part of pride is looking at

994
00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:31,840
Speaker 3: the type of human that you can be in a

995
00:47:31,840 --> 00:47:34,160
Speaker 3: situation like that, and if you can show some sort

996
00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:38,359
Speaker 3: of humility and grace knowing that it would be so

997
00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:41,160
Speaker 3: easy to turn the other way. I think that's something

998
00:47:41,200 --> 00:47:44,920
Speaker 3: I can I know, regardless of anything else I do

999
00:47:44,960 --> 00:47:46,480
Speaker 3: in my life, I can look back and be proud

1000
00:47:46,480 --> 00:47:48,759
Speaker 3: that that's a decision that I made and no one

1001
00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:51,280
Speaker 3: can say anything about it that can change my mind.

1002
00:47:52,080 --> 00:47:56,080
Speaker 2: Bret, absolutely love that, mate. Listen, keep up the positivity.

1003
00:47:56,880 --> 00:47:59,400
Speaker 2: You're a good man and it's a contagious mate. So

1004
00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:00,880
Speaker 2: thank you so much for coming on.

1005
00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:01,560
Speaker 4: Thanks for having me.

1006
00:48:01,640 --> 00:48:02,160
Speaker 2: Cheers, buddy.

1007
00:48:02,239 --> 00:48:02,560
Speaker 4: Thank you.

1008
00:48:03,920 --> 00:48:06,719
Speaker 2: To find out more about Brett, head to his website

1009
00:48:06,800 --> 00:48:12,799
Speaker 2: Brettcanelin dot com or check out his documentary Attacking Life.

1010
00:48:12,920 --> 00:48:16,120
Speaker 2: I'll link the details in the show notes. Thanks for

1011
00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:19,759
Speaker 2: listening to this episode of Headgame. If you enjoyed it,

1012
00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:23,200
Speaker 2: I'd love if you could leave me a review. I'm

1013
00:48:23,200 --> 00:48:29,960
Speaker 2: Att Middleton. Catch you in the next episode.