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.
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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.
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>> 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.
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