Walker Dawson huddles up a group of friends around Matt Bellina鈥檚 wheelchair on Cocoa Beach. The plan is to paddle out a little further south, where the sandbar is more crumbly.
鈥淥K, we鈥檙e gonna push him into the biggest closeout, right off the bat,鈥� Dawson cracks. Matt Bellina laughs.
A group of more than 15 friends gathered on Cocoa Beach on a recent Saturday. The mission? Get 40-year-old Bellina back into the water surfing.
It鈥檚 not a simple task. On Memorial Day, 2014, the Cocoa Beach resident broke his neck going head first down an inflatable water slide. Bellina broke his C4 vertebra, and damaged his high cervical nerve.
He鈥檚 one of an estimated 17,000 Americans each year suffer a spinal cord injury and live. Bellina can鈥檛 walk, and has limited arm movement. But on this Saturday, despite the odds, his friends are taking him surfing again.
They roll Bellina down the beach, and hoist him from the wheelchair to a sailboard modified with a kayak seat. With four people on each side, they paddle Bellina out into the Atlantic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1JhyU_IB70
There are at least 15 people helping out 鈥� longtime friends, coworkers, family. Even his mom is in the water. They鈥檙e positioned strategically to grab Bellina if he loses his balance and falls off the board. One friend asks what to do if Bellina falls. The advice: Just get him up and try to hold him up.
Even with the life jacket Bellina is wearing, there is an element of danger here: Because of his injury, Bellina can鈥檛 hold his breath for long. If he goes down, they have to get his head above water fast.
And that鈥檚 exactly what happened on the first wave. As Bellina took off, sitting up in the kayak chair, he loses his balance and tumbles to one side 鈥� basically falling into the arms of a friend, but still getting dunked underwater.
With sighs of relief, they get him back up on the board in the water and try again. This time, Bellina lays flat on his back as his friends push him into a wave. They let go 鈥� and Bellina is surfing again.
He cruises like a missile in the water, grinning from ear to ear, and waving his arms. He arrives to cheers and applause in the break. Afterwards, he catches two more rides before taking a break.
Back on the sand, Bellina is hoisted back in the wheel chair and gets a drink of water. How does he feel?
鈥淪o good, so good,鈥� Bellina said, grinning. 鈥淭hat was killer.鈥�
Bellina got three good rides and spent 40 minutes in the water. But there was that one scare. He said it was actually 鈥渒inda fun鈥� to be dunked.
And at this point, you may be thinking: How does he stay so positive?
鈥淎ttitude is 95 percent of it,鈥� Bellina says. Mid-sentence, his 3-year-old son Jack runs up and asks him to hold a toy: A bright yellow surfer. He immediately switches to Dad mode.
鈥淵es, I鈥檒l hold it buddy!鈥� Bellina said. 鈥淥f course that was my son that just ran up. He鈥檚 the main reason I have to stay positive and always try to do better.鈥�
Things haven鈥檛 been easy since the accident. Bellina has battled pneumonia, kidney infections and phantom pains. He鈥檚 been
Bellina lives in a condo on the beach, but being in the water is where he feels most comfortable.
鈥淚 feel like I鈥檓 home,鈥� Bellina said. 鈥淚鈥檝e grown up here, but I鈥檝e lived in several different places. And being in the ocean has always felt like returning to home. That鈥檚 what it feels like. It feels like I finally get to be myself, even if for a few seconds.鈥�
Bellina said there are hundreds of thousands of people with spinal cord injuries in the U.S. that deserve the support to do the things they loved doing before they were injured. He said if there鈥檚 one thing people should take away from his story, it鈥檚 simple.
鈥淣ever give up,鈥� Bellina said.
Abe Aboraya is a reporter with WMFE in Orlando. WMFE is a partner with , which receives support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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