Sunny Garcia, smiling in Hawaii. His daughter recently posted an update on Instagram. Photo: The Inertia
News about Sunny Garcia’s condition has been sparse. It’s a tough thing for those who love him, whether they know him personally or not. He’s a giant in surfing, a figure on a pedestal. Interestingly, it was a mixture of his surfing and his imperfections as a human that put him there — he is relatable. A kind, gentle person who struggled publicly with anger and depression. There’s a bit of Sunny in all of us, so when the news came of his attempted suicide in Oregon in late April of 2019, it struck the surfing world with a heavy hand.
Updates on his condition trickled out slowly. Unfounded rumors of his death circulated multiple times. Then, on May 15, 2019, it was confirmed that he was on life support, taking his own breaths with the help of oxygen, and on dialysis. Months later, a July update via the PrayforSunny Instagram page run by Sunny’s daughter, Kaila, revealed that Sunny was headed into surgery after contracting pneumonia.
In September, PrayforSunny posted a picture of Sunny and said that he had “said a few words and [was] in therapy daily — physical, speech and occupational.” Then, silence. That silence was a tough pill to swallow for those who love Sunny, but for the most part, the public respected the family’s requests for privacy.
On March 4, an update has revealed the reason for the lack of information. Here it is in its entirety:
Editor’s Note: Donate to the fundraiser to help support Sunny and his family here.
