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BBC MUNDO RADIO
By KAY BLUNDELL - The Dominion Post
Wellington surfer Rory Gentle is back riding the waves after falling from his board in shallow water and breaking his neck.
The 26-year-old and his girlfriend Lucy were surfing at Raumati Beach one Sunday morning three years ago when he fell head first into very shallow water.
Today, the plucky tiler is working fulltime, back on his board and giving things a go "hard out".
But his memories of the accident are still vivid.
"The first thing I felt was a tingling through my whole back, my neck and both arms. Every surfer hears the horror stories about injuries, so I immediately stood up and made sure I could still walk.
"I yelled out to Lucy, walked to shore and sat down. My neck then started cramping up badly. I was in heaps of pain and freaking out."
His girlfriend called 111 from her cellphone. Wellington Free Ambulance paramedics realised the seriousness of his neck injury, stabilised him in a collar and on a spine board, then called for the Westpac rescue helicopter.
Because of his injuries, Mr Gentle needed to get to hospital with minimal movement and very quickly. "When the paramedics rang the rescue helicopter it really sank in. I was pretty hazy in the helicopter because I had been given pain relief but I do remember the flight was quick.
"I was very lucky – it could have taken a hour by road – doctors told me my injuries could have been a lot worse."
Diagnosed with a cervical fracture – or broken neck – he was in hospital for four days and wore a neck brace for 100 days but, a year later, he was working again fulltime.
He's now surfing again but avoids contact sports and play-fighting.
"I still get a bit of pain but nothing to cry about. It has been a long haul but I have got my confidence back, am still kind of the same but a bit more wary of how fragile your body is.
"I still go hard out – you have to push it. It is an annoying thing that will probably always be there," he said.
Westpac rescue helicopter crewman Keith Frewen said Mr Gentle was incredibly lucky he did not knock himself out in the fall.
"Otherwise, it would have been an entirely different situation."
Life Flight Trust, which operates a national air ambulance service and the Wellington Westpac rescue helicopter, is holding its annual Westpac Chopper Appeal next month.
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