Big wave surfer Tom Lowe back after near-death wipeout

Six months ago big wave surfer Tom Lowe was in hospital after the heaviest fall of his life.

The surfer, from St Ives in Cornwall, had hit the reef at Teahupo'o in Tahiti and spent three weeks in hospital where he said he felt like he was dying.

Now he is back facing some of the biggest waves in the world in Hawaii.

When Tom Lowe fell onto the reef "hard" after getting pitched on a wave thought to be at least 25ft (7.6m) high he suffered internal bleeding, a fractured scapula and five broken ribs.

Then he had to make it back to shore on his own, which took more than half an hour of kicking.

After another half hour of staggering through the jungle he made it to an ambulance before being airlifted to hospital where he had surgery and a blood transfusion.

When I spoke to him in Hawaii he was waiting for a 40ft (12m) swell to hit the islands.

That will be the trigger for the prestigious Eddie Aikau invitational contest and he is the first British surfer to be invited.

In the meantime, he has been chasing waves at the famed Pipeline break on the north shore of the island of Oahu where he is based with his wife Tess and daughters Tigerlily and Chilli.

So how did he come back from that horrendous fall?

There were broken bones, for sure, but he said the key was not tearing any ligaments, the bands of tissue that hold bones in place.

"Ligaments sometimes don't ever grow back but in this situation the positive was knowing that it was five fractured ribs and a fractured shoulder," he said.

"I gave it six weeks' rest just to fully heal that bone.

"That being said, it was the most painful process I've ever been through.

"I literally thought I was dying.

"It was just like a hanging-in-there kind of situation, it was scary, really scary.

"I spent the first two days in hospital just every sort of seven to 10 minutes pushing the morphine button."

After deciding that the morphine was "horrendous" he stopped pushing the button.

He said: "My body just went into kind of peace mode, in a sense.

"I let the body do its thing to heal."

The other key to his recovery was seeing his family, he said.

"To see them walk through the door with flowers in their hair, it was just like these little rays of light.

"Tess was carrying a backpack, pushing Tigerlily in this little pram full to the brim with food.

"Everything was heightened to a whole other place."

A "lovely, lovely" chiropractor from New Zealand also pitched in to help Tom through the healing.

After three weeks Tom and his family were on a plane to New Zealand and within three months he was back on the water.

"It was a bit strange and sore but I'd never dreamed of that when I was lying there in the hospital," he said.

"But the fracture had healed, and I had no ligament damage, so I could."

Raglan, where they were living in New Zealand, has a left-hand point break and Tom said it was the "perfect" training ground.

"Just to get paddle fitness back and some long leg-burning rides, it was great," he said.

And, at about the same time, along came second daughter Chilli.

"And that was just great," he said. "Experiencing the birth, it's the best thing ever.

"Tess gave birth with the same midwife as with Tigerlily, it was a natural birth.

"I caught her when she emerged and she was just mind blowing.

"She's just another perfect little bubba, you know, we're blessed with that."

Being invited to the Eddie Aikau was a "nice surprise", he said.

"It's the biggest honour of my career," he said.

Arriving in Hawaii was "quite a shock" as the swell was in "giant mode", he said.

And his first taste of surfing big waves on the outer reefs of Oahu was "very scary".

"I haven't had a big wave in ages so there was all this stuff I was asking myself, 'Am I ready?'.

"So yeah, it's not easy, mentally, but this is want I want to be doing."

The fall in Tahiti was a "positive," he said.

"It's the balance of life, it's the yin-yang thing.

"We need the balance of the dark, the light, it's just how it works and it's when I've felt like I've become a better version of myself - more appreciative, more grateful, just more aware and more tuned in to my instincts too."

Tom will also be celebrating his 40th birthday in December but plans to keep chasing the biggest waves at favourite places like Mullaghmore in Ireland.

"There's less pressure on me, I don't have to prove anything to anyone," he said.

"But I feel like there's been an actual progression.

"You can't just keep going on the nastiest looking waves. You've got to take your time, be patient.

"Look at all the best guys out here - they're not getting 100 waves a session are they?

"They're just getting one standout ride in a couple of days of swell and that's the way to go about it."

He added: "There might come a moment where I don't feel like it, and I am going to be real, and I'm not going to force it.

"But for the time being I'm gonna give it all I've got, everything."

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