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Ventura man makes big splash after near-death experience
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Ventura man makes massive splash after near-death expertise
Calm waters greeted Wealthy Haggerty, Enrique Lopez and Doug Macaulay on Wednesday morning, an indication of luck for his or her plan to paddle board from Anacapa Island again to Channel Islands Harbor Marina.
For Haggerty, a 54-year-old Ventura resident, the 14 miles of stand-up paddle boarding was a very emotional journey. A life-threatening mountain biking accident final yr left him and his docs questioning whether or not or not he would have the ability to stroll — not to mention get again into the water.
“I wanted six miracles that day, and I obtained all six,” he stated, reflecting on the June 2019 accident.
Haggerty was biking down the height of Topatopa Mountains on a hearth highway with a good friend when his bike hit a gap coated by overgrown weeds. He was launched off the bike, damaging his neck and higher again.
The 2 had been miraculously capable of get cell service, in keeping with Haggerty, and had been capable of name for assist.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Division Search and Rescue airlifted Haggerty to Ventura County Medical Heart, the place the docs carried out emergency surgical procedure to maneuver a dislodged vertebrae off of his spinal twine.
Through the process, they realized it was worse than their preliminary thought: Two vertebrae in his neck had been utterly damaged, and all of the ligaments in his neck and higher again had been ruptured.
“It’s a miracle I’m alive,” Haggerty stated. His neck is now supported by two rods and 16 screws, as described in “Expertise Wealthy,” a podcast sequence he recorded after the expertise.
Previous to the harm, the Ventura resident lived an energetic way of life. He surfed, biked, skied and competed in Ironman triathlons.
“Now I’m listening to the docs say we have to see if you happen to can stand and take a number of steps,” Haggerty recalled on the podcast. “For me, the shock and trauma was actual.”
He began 14 months of bodily remedy, which he described as a “grueling” expertise.
“I had no concept what was in entrance of me,” he stated.
About 4 months after the surgical procedure, he nonetheless couldn’t transfer his neck left or proper, however he started strolling lengthy distances with the assistance of a walker.
By October 2019, Haggerty walked the Ventura Half Marathon as a part of his “obtained to do one thing” mentality.
Megan Bishop, who helped Haggerty by way of the Studio Metropolis rehabilitation middle Core Conditioning, referred to as his restoration wonderful. The one problem he has now could be with neck extension.
“I’m simply the steering. He needed to put within the work,” she stated.
In Could, he went swimming in a pool — his first time actively in water because the accident. Though the expertise was traumatic, he continued to push himself.
Later that month, he started paddle boarding.
“I used to inform the paddle boarders they suck,” Haggerty, who beforehand most popular browsing, joked. Put up-accident, paddle boarding was safer for him to do.
At some point about three months in the past, Haggerty and Lopez paddle boarded to a buoy from C Road on the Ventura Harbor. They appeared to the correct and noticed Anacapa within the distance.
Haggerty defined he was alive and so was his spirit. With a newly-purchased long-distance paddle board, he thought, “Why not?”
From there, the 2 started coaching as a crew with a few others. Haggerty defined {that a} good group dynamic — agreeing to security protocols like sporting emergency whistles and staying close by of one another, for instance — was essential.
Two of their crew had prior commitments, so Macaulay was introduced on as a final minute addition.
Then, it was a matter of discovering the correct date and time to exit. Lopez stated the water was turbulent each time they skilled, so that is what the crew anticipated on Wednesday.
“(We) grew to become junior weathermen, wanting on the winds and the whole lot like that,” stated Haggerty. “Derek, the captain of the Sunfish, he is been wonderful, lining up the window for us and giving us some flexibility.”
Day of, Haggerty stated the ocean was calm.
The three core paddle boarders, plus a number of others on the boat, left the Channel Islands marina by 5 a.m. Haggerty, Lopez and Macaulay obtained on their boards as soon as the boat neared the Anacapa Arch Rock.
After some cautious maneuvering across the rock formation, the three had been on open water.
Three-and-a-half hours later, whereas the boat with the remainder of the crew docked on the marina, the three paddled over to Silver Strand Seaside to the touch the land.
“Paddling throughout, it was simply lots of … clear my head time,” stated Haggerty. “After which after we obtained close to the doorway to the harbor, that is when simply the entire thing hit me.”
“It is really sort of arduous to say proper now, however I paddled over to Enrique and I had tears. I simply thanked him for getting me out doing this … I am simply so grateful to be alive,” he stated.
Shivani Patel covers schooling for The Star as a Report for America corps member. Attain her at shivani.patel@vcstar.com or 805-603-6573. She can be on Twitter at @shivaaanip.
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