My husband, Rodney is alive and well.  His neckbrace has come off after three months of healing a broken neck and he’s able to drive again.  Amen!  I’ve caught up on work and am back in full swing.

I’m tremendously grateful to all of those who have love and supported us through this process.  Especially my amazing brides who allowed me to slow down my normal workflow to be present with Rod and deal with the countless doctor appointments.

Here is Rod’s story from FB on his brush with death a week before Christmas and a DAY before his birthday.  Poor Guy.  He is lucky to be alive as he was mm away from being paralyzed from the neck down.

ROD:

Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement. I’ve always been skeptical about Facebook but now I’m seeing another side!

So what happened? I’m as surprised as you are! It started out as a routine dawn patrol. I’d surfed Saturday morning and scored some super fun 4 foot walls from table rock down through to indicators. So Sunday morning I was fired up to get out in the water again, especially since Ryan had read the waves were forecast to get bigger. I watched middle peak from my truck for a solid 30 minutes to get a feel for the set size and timing and to wait for the tide to suck down to about 1 or 2 feet. It was breaking out on the second reef and the waves were stacked up in 10 wave sets without the long lull we had the morning before. It was probably 6-8 foot with the occasional 10 foot bomb rumbling in.

I jumped off the point between sets and made my way down toward the peak. TK and Flea were pulling in late into some deep pits in the slot and it was looking sick so I hung out down the line for a bit. Next thing I notice Ive been washed down toward table rock and everyone is paddling for the horizon where I can see high spray being blown off the tops of a few monsters approaching from way outside. It was too far to go to get under it before it broke so when the first wave approached me it was already broken and was moving as a double story wall of white water blasting across the reef. Without a thought I duck-dove under the front lip as I’ve done maybe a thousand times before. Immediately my board vanished from my grip and I was entrained into the rapid turbulence with a couple of quick backflips and twists. All standard winter time treatment so far. Nothing to get excited about, I would just have to stay out a little deeper on the next set.

Then something cracked into the top of my head with a loud boom and I felt my spine splitting and ears ringing. Immediately I whispered a silent prayer; “Lord, you gotta help me here”. I was upside down under about 8 feet of water I reakon and it took me a few seconds to wake up, turn, and kick my way up to the surface. Once I got a breath and looked around I noticed my surfboard floating next to me with a giant round ding in the middle of the deck. Weird. That had never happened before. I tried to get back up on my board but I seemed to have no strength and little feeling in my arms and shoulders. As the next wave of the set buffeted me I could hear this crunching noise in my neck so I tried to go upside down and bury my head under the water as the next four or 5 set waves passed.

I realized quickly that I had no paddle and I wasn’t going to make it to the cove so I set my sights on the stairs by the statue. I just floated myself in the river and kicked to stay on track. As I approached the stairs I tried standing up and the weight of my body was almost too much from my shoulders and neck to carry so I slumped in the water till I was washed right into the base of the stairs. Thankfully it was low tide and the turbulence at the stairs was manageable. I knew I need to get out of the water so I barged up the stairs wincing with the strain on my back. I stopped half way and struggled to find a flat place to rest my surfboard before sitting down to catch my breath. I was confused about what to do next. My truck and phone was too far to walk to, should I try to reach Julie, should I ask someone for help? One guy climbed out after me and gave me a smile as if to say “good waves hey!” as he passed. So without much of a plan I climbed up the remaining 10 or so steps to the road and just as I got to the top my neighbor Will pulled up to the stop sign right there, saw me, saw the look on my face, and jumped out of his car and ran over to help me. I told him I think he is an angel and he just looked at me with deep worry on his face and said he would drive me to hospital. Soaking wet boots, wetsuit and all I get into his car and he takes me past my house to get my wallet and tell Julie and then drives me carefully to the hospital. His wife Brooke swings into action to take Bella and Luke to their house and Julie drives to the ER to catch up with me.

Next thing Im getting wheeled into the ER on a gurney and nurses are buzzing around asking me my name and birthday and we share a choked laugh when Nurse Sarah realized it was tomorrow. In the middle of the ceiling is a stainless steel hook and suddenly the fun starts to wear off. Just about then I started loosing control of my language and breathing as anger came to me with power. “Cut the f’n suit off” I mutter, “I just got a new suit yesterday for my birthday”. I think that’s when Julie walked in and gave me a kiss and told me all of the people who were already praying for me and I started to break and realize with relief God was not done protecting me yet.