Mornings are the hardest — waking up, realizing he cannot simply get off the bed, there are further steps he should take to begin the day.
However then, Lucas Arsenault remembers he shouldn’t have survived.
Half a yr in the past, the 27-year-old skilled kiteboarder from the Acadian group of Mont Carmel, P.E.I., was attacked by a shark whereas snorkelling within the Caribbean. His proper leg was amputated. Arsenault thought he would by no means be again on the board, however by positivity and drive he is once more doing what he loves.
It was purported to be a fast journey to Turks and Caicos in late Might, the place Arsenault as soon as taught kiteboarding, the place he had swam and surfed lots of of instances.
It was there, a couple of kilometre off the northern coast, that one thing struck him within the chest.
“I received smoked within the ribs actually onerous,” he mentioned, pondering a ship had hit him.
“However then I rotated and I noticed this face of a shark.”
‘My leg was a cookie’
Arsenault estimates it was two to 3 metres lengthy. The shark latched on to his proper knee and began shaking him forwards and backwards underwater. He might hear popping noises.
“I might really feel it is simply ripping pores and skin, and the chew power is so robust I might hear bones shatter immediately,” he mentioned. “My leg was a cookie.”
He remembers pondering: “Oh my God, I am 27, life’s over. Executed.”
Arsenault tried to punch the shark, and to pry open its mouth, to no avail.
Fortunately, it introduced him again to the floor, so he was in a position to get a breath earlier than being pulled underneath once more.
“That is after I received a transparent imaginative and prescient of him,” he mentioned. “I noticed the eyes. And that is what allowed me to get out as a result of I used to be in a position to poke his eyeballs.
“As quickly as I made him uncomfortable, he let go.”
‘Final moments’
Arsenault says the assault lasted roughly 30 seconds, however felt like an hour. Nonetheless operating on adrenaline, he managed three or 4 huge strokes to swim to the boat, the place his girlfriend acted shortly, tying a makeshift tourniquet round his leg.
“It was traumatizing,” mentioned Jory MacIsaac. “When he was within the water… everybody felt probably the most helpless. After we had gotten him again on the boat… you could possibly do one thing.”
Their group of six additionally included Arsenault’s father. He remembers taking a look at his household, stricken and pondering these had been his “final moments.”
“I am questioning, ‘How is that this going to work? Is it any second? Do I go out? I simply wish to go simple,'” he mentioned.
However he didn’t lose consciousness. He targeted on his respiration although, with a look at his leg, he knew there was no saving it.
Again at shore, a physician occurred to be tending to his boat. He even had an oxygen tank and a correct tourniquet. This was a turning level for Arsenault.
“He was so assured and his voice was so calm,” he mentioned. “As quickly as he gave me that confidence, my thoughts shifted. [Dying] wasn’t an possibility for me anymore.”
Life with no proper leg
Arsenault cannot fairly clarify how he remembers these particulars so vividly — from the assault to the nine-hour surgical procedure during which docs amputated his proper leg above the knee, and repaired tendon and nerve injury in his remaining limbs he used to try to open the shark’s mouth.
“I keep in mind opening my eyes and, having fought for [my] life for therefore lengthy, I couldn’t transfer a finger. Every part was consumed to the max,” he mentioned.
He felt his phantom leg instantly. His complete physique — throbbing with ache. His head — swimming with uncertainties and questions on how he would dwell this new life.
These had been “darkish instances,” he mentioned. “It is unattainable to cease your thoughts from fascinated by all of the outcomes. Will I ever have the ability to drive once more? How am I going to go to the toilet at evening?”
After three blood transfusions, Arsenault was steady sufficient to be flown to Toronto the place he obtained take care of 23 days at St. Michael’s Hospital. He was by no means alone there, all the time with MacIsaac, and family and friends members who visited.
That help continued by his restoration — the kiting and P.E.I. communities fundraised on-line, and breweries bought beers named in his honour.
‘I am a couple of kilos lighter’
Throughout a current exercise at a fitness center in Summerside, P.E.I., Arsenault was doing pull ups, opting to take his prosthetic leg off, leaning it towards a squat rack.
“Pull-ups are good as a result of I am a couple of kilos lighter,” he joked.
All through his day, he sprinkles in humour and positivity.
“I should not have survived that,” he mentioned. “If you are going to face a 1,000-pound tiger shark and also you come out what I got here out such as you’re fairly completely happy ultimately.”
With that mindset, Arsenault progressed swiftly, although he was cautious to not set targets. As an alternative, he listened to his physique. His solely purpose was to play a spherical of golf earlier than summer season ended.
His first few weeks had been spent in a wheelchair, then he graduated to a walker, and ultimately crutches. Lastly, after 10 weeks, he took these first tentative steps with a prosthetic leg whereas holding parallel bars.
Then, onto greater challenges. By lots of of hours of rehabilitation, slowly constructing his power and, at instances, pushing his limits, Arsenault discovered a approach to be lively once more.
By summer season, he performed that first spherical of golf.
And, in early September — a second he as soon as thought would possibly by no means occur — he once more went kiteboarding.
“Simply gratitude. Simply happiness,” he mentioned of his emotions on the time. “Simply an awesome wave of feelings.”
Arsenault says that second wasn’t deliberate, that the wind situations had been proper and he was feeling good. He remembered find out how to journey the board, find out how to fly the kite, however mentioned it was “bittersweet.”
“That is when it settles into your abdomen issues are completely different,” he mentioned. “I will not be the identical as I used to be earlier than, however I do get to do it.”
Although he drained shortly, the expertise lit a hearth in him, inspiring him to push himself to get stronger. Since then, he is managed a bicycle journey down the road and swam in a pool.
On the similar time, he has been working together with his prosthetics group.
“For Lucas, targets are going to be how far can we get him again to his pre-life?” mentioned Todd Waite, a prosthetist-orthotist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown. “He isn’t going to be strolling 10 steps. He in all probability desires to stroll 10K.”
Waite says he was “shocked” when Arsenault despatched him a video of him kiting for the primary time.
“It is distinctive.”
Progressively, Arsenault is adapting to his new regular. He begrudgingly lower the correct legs off his wetsuits to suit his prosthetic leg. He is assessing his boards to see which is able to work finest. He additionally has completely different legs for various actions.
To him, all these steps characterize a brand new begin, one punctuated with a go to to Turks and Caicos.
In November, he and his household travelled there to make peace and new reminiscences. He additionally proposed to MacIsaac, who’s now his fiancée.
“It was a little bit emotional to return, but it surely was a lot better than anticipated,” he mentioned.
Whereas he won’t go snorkeling for some time, or ever, he says there’s nothing he regrets about that day.
“I misplaced sufficient bodily that I do not wish to lose extra in my life. I nonetheless have tons left to do.”
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