So I went out to surf.
It was a Sunday morning,
Father's Day.
Took a beautiful wave.
I was going fast down the line.
I landed square on
the top of my head.
And the split second
I hit the water,
I had the classic electrical
shock that everybody describes.
I knew immediately, that was bad.
Scotty broke his neck.
Typical Scott style, he's like ow,
that hurt,
drove himself to the hospital.
About a day later he said yeah,
the doctor says I'm gonna lose
pretty much the use of my right arm.
I'll never surf again.
I said Scotty, look,
I know the people that can fix you.
[MUSIC]
Here at Hardwire we
are survivability experts.
>> This is the first one
to go with the RFID tag.
Lots and lots and
lots of body armor.
>> We work very hard at our job to
try to keep people from getting
injured.
>> We make armor for
the US military,
the Marine Corps, all our special
forces, for police officers.
So we feel like
everything we do here,
if we can get it in
the field 10 minutes faster,
that's someone's life that we're
going to affect permanently.
This shows like why
we need our necks.
>> George is the president, owner.
He's also like my best friend.
Hired me 16 years ago.
>> Scott's the kind of guy
that's like, we can do that.
He's truly the closest person
I've ever met to Superman.
The geometry,
the CAD work that he does is
almost surgical in terms of his
ability to see in three dimensions.
When Scott got hurt,
I emailed Natalie right away.
Scott, you're Superman, and
I know who Superman's doctor is, and
it's Dr. Riley and Natalie Hirsch.
>> Dr. Riley had operated on George,
my boss.
And my boss was the one
that hooked me up with him.
Thank God he did.
>> You had already broken your neck.
>> George sent us a message that
he had a friend, a co-worker and
a surfing buddy,
that likely needed our help.
>> George came to see me
as a patient in 2001.
Over the years, George has sent
many of his friends and colleagues,
who I've treated as patients.
Scott was one of those referrals.
And he came and
saw us as quickly as possible.
>> Dr. Riley comes in,
looks through the case,
looks through the same MRIs
that the other doctor had.
And I said, well Doc,
what do you think you're gonna do?
He said,
I'm gonna take out the broken bones,
kinda grind off the sharp edges,
gonna put some
titanium rods in there, fuse your
five, six, and seven back together.
Can you be here Thursday morning?
I said, I'm your man.
>> Most people who have problems
with their necks or their backs,
who've had fractures or
disc herniations, pain in their
arms or weakness are very scared.
And one of my jobs, as an expert in
those areas, is to reassure them
that things can be done,
that they can be made better, and
they can return to the sorts
of things they enjoy.
>> He thinks like an engineer.
Not all doctors do.
He spoke my language.
He says, there is a problem.
We're gonna go fix it.
>> You know, the goal is to try to
get all of our patients back to what
they want to do, full functioning,
as long as they can do it safely.
>> I'd never been operated on.
I'd never broken a bone in my life.
When you're in that much pain, I
was looking forward to the surgery.
You just want it to all end.
So from the time they
put the mask on you,
it seemed like half a second,
I was waking up in recovery.
First thing I came to,
and the nurse walked over.
I kind of expected them to say tell
me your name or where you're from or
count to three or something and they
said, move your right arm for me.
[MUSIC]
>> You know, when all of a sudden
you can't surf because one of your
arms doesn't work, and
doctors are telling you,
you'll never surf again.
All I can tell you is it's
like the worst feeling.
It's like being grounded for
all of high school.
That's the only thing
I can equate it to.
And when somebody tells
you that I can fix you,
that's like the greatest
guy in the world.
[MUSIC]
>> You just feel that yearning.
You gotta get back in.
If you're a surfer, or you're a kite
boarder, the ocean's where you live.
It's been six weeks
now since my surgery,
seven since I broke my neck.
I hadn't been back
in the ocean since.
Standing there,
it was a little warm, and
there's the ocean.
[MUSIC]
