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Warning: All the gory details of Wade’s horror accident and photos included. |
Wade Goodall at ease in the air (main), and the shocking shots of the break (right). Pic: Billabong/Stacy
Aerial super-man Wade Goodall, from Caloundra (Sunshine Coast, Qld) suffered a compound lower left leg break and a fractured left ankle surfing near Angourie on the NSW far North last Wednesday. Surfing with good friend and fellow Billabong team rider Laurie Towner, Wade snapped both his fibula and tibia pulling into what he later described in a text message to Tracksmag.com as “a tiny pit.” As a surfer Wade has a freakish natural ability to put himself in impossible situations in the air – and ride out with ease. On land he’s an extremely likable individual that draws inspiration from athletes in the snowboarding and skateboarding world. If you’ve seen him surf you’d see this inspiration in action. But for now Wade is grounded… Tracksmag.com spoke exclusively with Wade to find out all the gory details of his accident and how he’s dealing with the daunting road to recovery.
[Accident photos courtesy of Wade and his friends]
Are you still in hospital?
Nah, I’m home at Caloundra – I’ve had to move in with my parents… I couldn’t really live in my flat I need too much assistance.
Take us back to that fateful moment?
Fuck, Its hard to explain, I think it was just such a small wave and so shallow, I was pig-dogging, the foam-ball bounced, and I don’t know? It bottomed out and a lot of water pushed up at the same time. And it kind of kick flicked my board instantly… You know how you get that jolt sometime? It usually throws your forward or whatever but this time it was so small I had nowhere to go and I get bent in half.
What did that feel like?
I didn’t really feel any pain at the start; I just felt it go so fast and then swimming in I could feel my leg just flapping. And then I was trying to crawl up the rocks and yell for help at the same time. Luckily, Calhan [friend from Caloundra] and Laurie Towner [fellow Billabong team rider] dragged me up the rocks, with Laurie holding my leg together. Lucky he was there he kept things calm. Poor little Calhan my best mate from home who was on holiday was a bit white.
The calming influence of good mate and fellow charger Laurie Towner in action.
So when you looked down at your leg what did you see?
I had a steamer on so I couldn’t see where it was snapped, all I could see was the bone sticking out – it wasn’t through the wetsuit but it was obvious as soon as you looked at it my leg was sideways!
Whoa! So you knew it was bad, did you go into shock?
I think I did a little bit, yeah, I didn’t really feel any pain. I mean I did, but? It just wasn’t that brutal. Not as brutal as I thought it would be at the start. Once I got on the drugs and the shock wore off the pain started to kick in more.
The bare bone facts of a compound fracture of the tibia. Now look away and breath.
How did the logistics of getting you to the hospital go down?
They called an ambulance, it’s a walk across the rocks and across some grass and down a little hill to get to where I was, so they had come to me… From when I broke it to when I arrived at the hospital was a fair while – probably a few hours. It didn’t feel like that in my head, but that’s what the green whistle will do to you.
So, they got you on the painkillers straight away?
Yeah, they [paramedics] ran down, and when they got to me everyone was saying, “Get him the green whistle! Get the green whistle!” It would be funny to find out what I was saying after they hooked me up on the morphine cause I don’t remember what I was mumbling about? I think I was asking people to take photos of my leg so I could see it later?
Helped you stay calm I bet?
Yeah, I remember just concentrating on my breathing. A few times I started to lose it a bit, and huh, huh, started gulping for air, but I just tried to get through all that and not pass out.
In better days – flying high in Bali. Pic: Billabong/Stacy
And what was the first thing that happened at the hospital?
I was rushed into Lismore hospital where they operated on me that night. They put a steal rod down the middle of my leg [tibia], a bunch of screws up near my knee, and that’s when they found the break in my ankle too, so they had to screw that. Then I had a terrible drug fueled week in hospital where they left the wound open with a vacuum seal on it… this weird little hose with a little vacuum head on it that constantly sucked the blood away. That was because when you have a wound in the ocean like that there’s a lot of critters in there and it can go septic real easy. He [the surgeon] said that when he was operating my leg smelled septic – there was a real vile smell coming from it. So I waited a week for that to clean out and then they performed the second operation, which was two days ago. They re-did one bolt in my ankle and once they decided they were happy closed off the wound.
Did they know you were a professional sportsman?
If I were alone they would not have known shit. But lucky Laurie’s mum was there – she’s a nurse – she took control. She was asking for the best doctor’s available and explained to them that, “This is his life you need to do the best job possible”. She was amazing! She was like my mum. She stepped in and dominated for me. And I actually had another mate from up my way who happens to be now working there as a doctor… between the two of them they pulled a lot of strings to get me the best care possible.
Did they assure you that everything will be fine and you’d be okay to surf again?
Yeah, they said it went as good as it could have gone so that gives me a lot of confidence. It’s just time and your head that I’ve got to deal with now I think.
Things were going well with your Creative Destruction series, has this accident forced you to take stock of all that?
I was having a lot of fun and it is sad that it’s come to an end for a little while… Everybody’s all “You’ll be back and you’ll appreciate it more than ever.” I’m sure I will too – but I don’t know, I still don’t want to deal with this leg-break.
There’s plenty of time to get all sunny, right now you’ve got every right to be a dark cloud.
Yeah.
Did some one say dark cloud? Wade no slouch in the big gear Teahupoo serves up. Pic: Creative Destruction
How’s moving back to the parents? It’s been four years or so since you first left home?
It’s hard, I still feel bad, even in hospital asking people to do shit from me sucked. Depending on people for everything is really hard. I’m always like “I’m really sorry I have to ask you to do this but…” Peeing in bottles cause you can’t move and asking people to take it away for me and get a new one, I’m like, “I’m so sorry!” I need a lot of help but it’s hard to ask.
Are you fully covered for insurance etc?
Yeah, I’m fully covered with private insurance. You gotta be I reckon. I haven’t thought about compensation or anything, which a few people came to ask me about in the hospital, I still want to do things for my sponsors. I don’t want to sit around doing nothing and get paid for it. I want to help my sponsors as much as I can still.
Paramedics hook Wade up on the “Green Whistle”. What tune was he playing? He can’t remember.
Have you contemplated the road to recovery yet?
One thing that is in my favour is that I didn’t do any nerve damage, which can really slow down recovery time. It’s going to be a long time (out of the water) but no doubt I’ll be back.
Got anything planned for your land locked immediate future?
I’ve been reading some books, and I’ve been looking for some online courses I can do and stuff like that.
Get some guitar lessons?
Learning guitars so clichéd now.
Ah, don’t worry about that – become a bedroom shredder.
I was going to maybe learn how to build guitars instead.
Now that sounds like a Wade Goodall type of things to do. The Goodall Model Axe! I like it. Put me down for one…
Thanks Wade’o and all the best with your recovery.
Thanks.
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Creative Destruction 8.1: the Nature of the Beast from CREATIVE DESTRUCTION on Vimeo.
