There was no trace of hazard when surfer Brett Connellan stepped into the water seven years in the past, on one fateful night in Kiama on New South Wales’ south coast.
“A lot of people ask me – did you see it coming?” Connellan stated on Weekend Today.
“Could you see the fin coming through the water? I say sharks are incredibly good at what they do. I didn’t see it coming.
“For how fast the second was, it was additionally so gradual,” he added.
The Aussie surfer is telling his extraordinary story of survival and recovery in a gripping new documentary on Stan called ‘Attacking Life’.
The documentary recounts the frantic scenes after the savage attack, when Connellan’s friend Joel Trist brought him to shore on his surfboard.
Trist’s now-wife Agie, a nurse, used the leg rope from his surfboard as a tourniquet to stop his blood loss.
“There was a variety of luck on the seashore and that prolonged to the restoration having the suitable individuals round me the entire manner by,” Connellan said.
“It’s a bit unknown if you lose three-quarter of your left quad and we did not know what the long- time period results could be.”
Connellan was told he may never walk again after suffering critical injuries to his leg.
Surgeons operating on Connellan used his lateral muscle to cover his exposed bone, ensuring he would not need an amputation.
With grit and determination, Connellan slowly defied the odds, re-learning to walk with his injuries. Incredibly, he is now back in the water.
Connellan said his love of surfing made it inevitable that he would return to the ocean.
“For me, the more durable factor about going again within the water was an unknown of what I used to be going to surf like,” he said.
“Surfing was a giant a part of my life and I did not know what that finish aim was going to seem like and what that will imply for me.
“It’s not something that you can give up. It’s not to much about chasing the dream of becoming about chasing the dream of becoming a professional surfer, I do it more because I love it now.”
Connellan stated he hoped his documentary, which has been three years within the making, will assist encourage others to beat challenges in their very own lives.
“For me, I am just a regular person that something irregular happened to,” he stated.
“We will have our own version of a shark attack and I want to say if my story can get people to look at their own experiences in a different way and they can use themselves as an inspiration when they encounter a hurdle in life, that would be the goal for me.”
Shark’s dorsal fin ‘zipped again up’ after severe harm
Source: www.9news.com.au
