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A Perth family faces an uncertain future after a tragic beach accident left the father paralyzed and fighting for his life, as his wife revealed she thought her husband was joking when she found him face down and motionless on the shores. waves.
Perth couple Scott Race, 39, and Peta Byrne had been swimming off a beach at Secret Harbor in Perth on December 28 when a freak wave washed Mr Race to the bottom of the ocean, causing his neck to break on Two parts.
It was a split second that changed the family forever.
The father of six was thrown onto a sandbank after being swept underwater by the huge wave.
The fracture in his neck damaged his spinal cord and his C6 and C7 vertebrae, two crucial parts of the spine.
Mr. Race was still conscious as he floated face down in the water, but he was unable to move and held his breath desperately as he waited for someone to come rescue him.
Mrs Byrne, his partner of 11 years, realized something was wrong and arrived just in time before she drowned.
Scott Race, 39-year-old father of six from Perth (pictured), faces the terrifying prospect of never walking again after a freak wave tossed him over and broke his neck in two on December 28 .
Mr Race’s body was washed up on a sandbank after the huge wave swept him under the water, breaking his neck and damaging his spinal cord (Secret Harbour, Perth file image)
Mrs Byrne said The Sydney Morning Herald initially he thought his partner was just playing a game in the ocean.
“I looked at him and thought he was playing because he was just floating with his face in the water,” Ms Byrne said.
I went to shake it and… nothing. So I grabbed him and lifted him up, and he was gasping for air and he said, “I can’t move, I can’t move, I can’t move.”
Lifeguards arrived and placed him on a spinal board while they awaited the emergency services, after which he was flown to Perth Royal Hospital by helicopter.
Mr Race was taken into surgery after doctors at the hospital became concerned that a severely dislocated disc was putting pressure on his spinal cord.
Ms Byrne said she was “hysterical and hyperventilating” during the four-hour operation.
An MRI the next day revealed that Mr. Race’s spinal cord was badly bruised, not severed, yet he remains paralyzed from the armpits down seven days after he first arrived at the hospital.
Doctors said Race’s injury was catastrophic and it was unlikely he would be able to walk again.
Ms Byrne said the lives of the entire family had changed in “a split second”, and that she planned to spend so much time with Mr Race and their children that she would accept an uncertain future.
Peta Byrne (left) and her partner Scott Race (right) have been together for 11 years and have six children together
‘My head was spinning and I was thinking, how am I going to handle all of this?’ she said.
“Because you only have certain hours that you can visit and then I have to take care of the kids at home and then I have to take care of work.”
The couple have six children together: Jackson, 20, Stephanie, 19, Tayla, 16, Caleb, 16, Addisyn, 14, and Jessica, 13.
Friends and family have established a GoFundMe page for the family, which has raised over $20,000 so far.
GoFundMe organizers said they hope Mr. Race can regain feeling and movement over time, but the family faces a “long and difficult journey ahead.”
“He is currently in the intensive care unit at Royal Perth Hospital having been airlifted,” they wrote.
‘His spinal cord is not severed, however he is currently paralyzed from the armpits down.
“As they will both spend endless hours, days, weeks and possibly months in the hospital, this will affect them financially as they are unable to work and have a large family with six children,” they said.