Page 8 - You Magazine – Issue 1

Against the odds
Only too aware that learning how
to use his only non-master hand to write, dress and drive was just the start of a long journey, the early post- accident days proved more arduous than he could ever have imagined.
Physically, emotionally and mentally everything was a challenge.
“When you’re up and about and you’re moving around the pain
isn’t as intense but when you go to bed at night and you have nothing but your pain to think about, it’s really emotionally draining and really frustrating. I cried myself to sleep so many nights because I just didn’t know how I was going to continue like that. At the same time I was trying desperately to get off my drugs because I wanted to go back to work,” he says.
“Then you have the emotional aspect of it where I was absolutely terrified that I was going to lose my career because it was really all I had. I was terrified of losing the only thing that gave me a sense of value, a purpose.”
With no choice but to rely on others, Paul agreed to accept help from a friend who selflessly
8 MAY 2020 You
resigned from his own job to assist him with the tasks he was unable to do for himself.
“I was dealing with a lot of
pain. I wasn’t sleeping well. I was self-administering all my own medication. It was a bit of a rough trot there for a while but the biggest thing my mate did was to drive me to the gym on the army base every day where I learnt to use my body again.
“There were a few things
I learned that I didn’t have experience of previously that helped me get through the dark times. I had to learn patience and perseverance because I wasn’t a very patient person before,” he says.
“Everything I did in the military I was kind of pretty good at and picked it up fairly quickly. But the accident put me in [a position] where I had to be really, really patient with myself and understand that I wasn’t going to be able to do everything straight away. It got frustrating because you know your capabilities, you’ve done it before, but your body just won’t allow you to do it any more.”
Image: Peter Stoop / Newcastle Herald
But while his situation was tough, Paul was tougher and vowed that instead of letting the fear of failure crush him, he would use it as a motivator to get fitter, stronger and emotionally resilient enough to regain the life he had enjoyed prior to his accident.
Meditation helped. So did the simple act of stopping, taking a big deep breath, letting it all go and then “giving it another crack”.
Central to Paul’s recovery
was the strength he drew from finding different ways to overcome his issues.
He spent hours trawling
the internet for the latest advancements in prosthetics and other aids, while also watching videos of para-Olympians and others who had lost limbs to observe “how they got things done”.
A new dawn
Within three months of his shark encounter Paul was back enjoying the Bondi surf. Within six months he was drug-free and back at work.
In the 11 years since the shark attack, Paul’s life has changed immensely.