This post is by Larry’s friend Mox:
This all started when I got a phone call. I look at my phone it’s my pal Larry Dubey. We don’t get to talk much so I’m elated when I find out who it is. “Larry so good to hear from you, what’s up”. “Not much” he says,” What are you doing?” I tell him I’m headed home from a surf trip, went down to my house in Baja Norte with Cooper . “What a coincidence” he says, “That’s what I’m calling about. I’m going surfing Sunday and I want you to paddle out with me”. Now normally when someone asks you to paddle out with them you don’t think much about it. But, you see the crazy thing is, about a year and a half ago, only a few weeks after finishing the Malibu triathlon, Larry, while snowboarding with friends in Mammoth, suffered a cervical fracture and had broken his C5, C6 and C7 vertebrae, damaging his spinal cord, resulting in what is considered a C5 complete spinal cord injury,. He can pretty much just move his head. That’s it.
Larry Dubey riding a wave!
Larry tells me he’s registered for the go out with Jesse Billauer’s Life Rolls On Foundation. He registered for the event before, but his body could not do it last time. He thinks he’ll be ready this time and he wants me there. My response, “Totally cool! I’ll be there. Where do I need to be and what time?”
The event was held at El Porto in Manhattan Beach . Not far from home. Never having been to a They Will Surf Again event, we had no idea what to expect. I arrive with my son, Cooper, who happens to be an L.A. County Beach Lifeguard and my wife, Lisa, the photographer responsible for the images you are seeing.
After a short while Larry arrives with his entourage, his wonderful Daughter Lauren, her boyfriend Juan, Christy his daily caregiver and close friends Lynn and John. Larry is looking stoked with that ear to ear grin that has never left him in spite of his injury. There is just a hint of fear in his eyes. Similar I’d guess to when I’m looking out at a double overhead day.
The event was so well organized. Everyone involved was great, cooperative, knowledgeable of the foundation and mostly, aware of responsibilities of themselves and other volunteers in the water. After registering as a water safety volunteer and answering their important question.” Are you comfortable in the water?” We were ready. Well we thought. Cooper and I then attended an informative orientation of how the water safety volunteers are to interact with the “athletes/surfers” and the different responsibilities of the water safety teams, the land team, the shallow water team, the mid water team and the deep water team, who were also responsible in getting the athletes out to the line-up and successfully catching a wave.
The orientation is over. I glance over Cooper’s shoulder and Jesse is seated just to his left. I have watched as this ambassador of good will and hope cordially accepts requests for pictures being taken with him. I smile at him and he smiles back .I get up to walk towards him and notice the guy just wants to finish his breakfast. But, I’ve already started towards him. Oh well. I start off by telling him , yesterday I surfed with a buddy of yours, Zinger. He told me if I saw you I needed to tell you hi from him. Well, the eggs got a bit colder as Jesse warmed up. His smile now a legitimate smile and he thanked me and said He’d call Zinger later.
We meet back up with Larry. We are talking for a bit then Cooper and I are called to the water for our first go out. The first surfer is just the cutest, little, blond, braided, pigtailed girl of maybe about 20. She was transferred from her wheel chair to the surfboard in knee deep water and then we swam/paddled her out to the line-up. She was beaming, talking, laughing and just so excited all the way out. We spun here around and pushed her into her very first wave. We have a few more surfers and then It’s Larry’s turn.
Larry is one of the most severely injured surfers of the day. The head of the water safety teams, Cory Staley, goes out with us and shows just why he is the man. The only guy wearing a yellow jersey. This guy extraordinarily displays capability, control and clarity in his directions of all the water safety volunteers. As Larry is wheeled to the water it is Cory who is speaking with Larry all the way from the dry sand to the location of transfer from the wheelchair to the surfboard. He rarely breaks eye contact with Larry. He assures Larry he is in good hands, all will be well, and he will surf again. At the point of transfer there are one dozen people helping to get Larry on the board. We all get Larry onto the board and swim/paddle him out, not just to the whitewater, but out to the line-up. I am at his right side and Cooper, at his left, has his hand cupped under Larry’s chin, holding his head out of the water. It is difficult to get Larry situated on the board. A clean-up set looms on the horizon. Despite the amount of people around him, one wave clears Larry off the board. We get him back on. We get him back out.
Now again it is difficult to get Larry situated on the board. It is Cory who sits atop the board with Larry and taking him by the shoulders of his life vest pulls Larry into proper position for the wave to come. A small wave comes. Larry is pushed into it. It is enough so that he feels the glide, but he rolls off the back. His fear is nearly gone and he says, he can do this. On the next wave it is Cory who maneuvers the board and makes it possible for Larry to get the wave all the way to the sand. The ride was so amazing Larry and Cory are sitting in the shallow water, laughing and talking until Cooper and I body surf in and run up the beach to them and the crowd that has gathered to celebrate this incredible display of surfing, stamina, strength of mind and stoke.
Larry is so emotionally and physically exhausted , not to mention freezing from the days events that he needs to leave. Cooper and I head out with the red team and take a few more surfers out. While we are out my wife sits and talks with Cory about the event, the organization and feelings he enjoys when helping these surfers out. It is Cory who joins in with Lisa as they weep together as the joy of the day simply overtakes their emotions.
The day is over ,the last surfer has ridden his wave. It was so emotional taking part with other surfers to come together to bring joy to people whose lives have been affected by spinal cord injury. It’s just mind-blowing helping and watching these athletes as they experience something that we as surfers get to do when ever we want. We are now leaving, walking through the parking lot. A participant, that we did not even see at the event, yells out to us,” Thank you for helping out and making this day possible.” Lisa tells her,” Thank you for being so brave”. Even though this girl’s ride could have been many hours before, she still has that surf stoked smile sitting on her face.
It’s now the day after the event. I get another phone call. I look at my phone it’s my pal Larry Dubey. We spoke of the day, the excitement, the ride, the fear, the emotions . He said that it was the second time he had been prone on his stomach since the accident. Now he has something else to work on. “Will you do it again?” I asked. ” La Jolla , September 11,” was his answer.
“Totally cool! I’ll be there.”
I never would’ve made it out of the hospital at all if it weren’t for Jeff. He has been working at Craig Hospital so long that he commands a great deal of respect from the rest of the staff, the nurses, and the doctors. He is often called on to help train new hires. Jeff’s the man who taught me how to be a quad. He was a tech mostly working night shifts whenever he wanted, very calm, very efficient; and we just sort of connected. One of the great ironies for me as a patient at Craig, was if I hadn’t broken my neck I never would have met any of my doctors and nurses and techs; many of them snowboarders, mountain bikers, kindred souls in many ways. We had so much in common even though we would never do any of these activities together. Anyway, Jeff is my consummate “Brother from another mother”. He lived with us when we came home two summers ago, he helped set up the house and get us into a routine. Jeff helped interview and hire our original caregivers. He understands my wife, which is sometimes more than I can say for myself; and she tolerates him, which is sometimes also more than can be said about myself. He is there for me in a way that no one else on earth is. Until I met him, I would never have used the words meticulous, fastidious, and chews tobacco in the same sentence to describe anyone. Read the rest of this entry »
