Construction manager Hayden has revealed the terrifying moment he fractured his neck. The 45-year-old was surfing in Queensland when the incident took place.
‘I instantly thought, “Oh no, this is serious,”’ Hayden recalls of coming off his surfboard in shallow waters.
‘I hit the top of my head on a shallow sandbank and I knew I had done serious damage to my neck, arms and chest, and I had pins and needles.’ Hayden’s ex-girlfriend was with him at the time and rushed him to hospital
‘I fractured my C3 and C4 [vertebrae] and had done damage to my longitude ligaments, so my neck was very unstable.’
As a result, Hayden was bedridden in hospital for six weeks.
‘I had months and months of physio and acupuncture and it took almost two years before I felt like I had made a full recovery.’
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