Head injuries are a bitch. Nothing is more scary to an athlete–or an athlete’s family–than the prospect of looking down the pipe at life-altering neurological damage from an intense hit to the noggin. And that’s why Dusty Payne’s recent Instagram post was so encouraging.
Last month I wrote about Payne’s gnarly accident at Pipe where he fell trying to make a drop at the dangerous North Shore wave. I’ve always been a fan of the Maui native’s aggressive, ultra-powerful style but this time it might have hindered him: taking off on an incredibly-late drop, Payne didn’t make it and was shoved down hard, slamming his head mercilessly into the reef. Some five waves passed as he was underwater before surfers nearby noticed he wasn’t resurfacing. “Very scary stuff as he was unconscious for over 2.5 minutes,” family-friend Matty Schweitzer told me at the time. Payne broke bones in his face and jaw and knocked out teeth, spending more than two weeks in the ICU at Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu.
Payne is typical of the Maui-born surfer I’ve come to know: hard-charging, gifted, and humble as hell. In his post, he thanked the people who rescued him, paying a special thanks to the North Shore Lifeguards who were there to save him that day. “A lot of people have asked me how they can help/what they can do,” he wrote. “My family and I have created a GoFundMe account to which 100 percent of the proceeds will go directly to supporting the @northshorelifeguardassociation. More funds are needed for these guys…”
No one can argue in the truth of that statement from Mr. Payne. The 29-year-old also said that he looks forward to getting back and doing what he loves, which is basically ripping (see the full post, below). I reached out to Payne through his family but he’s understandably not doing much in the way of interviews yet. He did, however, speak to the mental impact of his near-death accident: “This has been a surreal and life-altering experience for me.”
Donate to the North Shore Lifeguards, here.
