Page 7 - You Magazine – Issue 1

THE TIME OF HIS LIFE
Paul de Gelder thought he’d found his home in the military until an unexpected encounter forced him outside his comfort zone.
If the measure of a man is determined by his actions,
then Paul de Gelder must surely
be a giant.
Paul was just 23 when he
first served his country as a paratrooper in the Australian Army and just 28 when he qualified as a clearance diver for the Australian Navy.
A career in the military proved a natural fit for the self-confessed dare devil who had lacked direction in his early teens and whose formative years had been plagued by bullying and self-harming.
“I didn’t get a lot of life instruction from my parents and
I wasn’t really prepared through my teenage years to be a part of the civilian world. I joined the army because I was failing at everything I tried to do,” he says.
Able Seaman de Gelder
didn’t then know it but
before the decade was out
he would add shark attack survivor, motivational speaker and wildlife advocate to his burgeoning list of achievements.
D-day
The 11th of February, 2009 was the day when Paul’s life trajectory took a radical turn.
Participating in a routine anti-terrorism exercise in Sydney Harbour, he felt “a mighty whack” on his leg and looked down to see a three-metre bull shark circling nearby.
The attack made Paul an instant amputee, destroying his right hand and forearm, removing much of his hamstring and part of his quad on his right leg along with it.
During the nine weeks he
spent in hospital, Paul decided to manage his own rehab as he didn’t believe there was anyone else up to the task.
“I wasn’t living in the US where they have all these soldiers coming home missing limbs and they have specific veteran’s hospitals for rehab. There were no hospitals for me. They wanted to send me off to an old person’s rehabilitation centre. I went home because I knew I would recover better in my own environment.”
FEATURE
In brief
Paul de Gelder, 43, is a former Australian Navy clearance diver who in 2009 lost part of his arm and leg after being mauled by a shark during an anti- terrorism military training exercise in Sydney Harbour.
Determined to take back control of his life, Paul was back at work within six months and just two years later documented his story in his autobiography, No Time For Fear.
Paul now works as a motivational speaker, actor and television presenter and has achieved international success after scoring a contract with Discovery Channel co-hosting its Shark Week documentaries.
You MAY 2020 7