“It Infected My Heart”: Despite Suffering Saddening Fate Once, Surfer Found Peace in the Ocean

Josh Bogle’s regular life came to a standstill after a series of unfortunate accidents. Participating in a freeride snowboarding competition, Bogle injured his back. After this, the snowboarder had another accident while driving in an SUV for the X Games competition. When he started using medication to overcome his pain, the move backfired and Bogle’s limbs stopped functioning. Overcoming his challenges, he turned to para-surfing using a prosthetic leg. His inspiring story led to a documentary where he narrated the obstacles he faced before becoming a para surfer.

This documentary named Surfing as a Quadruple Amputee-Above the Waves was shot by Matt Pierce and posted on his Youtube channel Wake Up Matt. Santana Sebastian, a budding filmmaker also contributed to this project. In this documentary, Bogle elaborated on how taking medication excessively for 2-3 years to alleviate pain proved to be fatal.

Bogle narrated in this documentary how the snowboarding accident had affected the nerve in his neck and damaged his shoulder due to which he experienced severe pain. Further, he added, “Over 2-3 year period, I started taking oxycontin, I got taking like eight pills a day and my teeth paid the toll.” Elaborating that he had to have his tooth taken out, he explained, “Two months later, the strep bacteria had gotten in my bloodstream and infected my heart.” Continuing, he disclosed how the cardiac surgeon informed him that the main source of the infection had to be taken out. The result of this was that Bogle had to have all his teeth taken out.

Bogle still had to remain in the hospital for observation when he had an unfortunate experience. Recalling this difficult time, the para surfer stated, “Two days later my heart stopped in the cardiac ward.” Luckily, doctors managed to save Bogle at this critical juncture.

Reducing his medications after that, Bogle experienced another unlucky incident. Putting his foot by mistake on a fish hook, he collapsed and was later admitted to the hospital where he was in a coma for 17 days. After this difficult phase, Bogle took to para-surfing and described his para-surfing experience.

Participating in the Japan Open’s para surfing contest and the kneeling and standing categories, Bogle elaborated on his experience. “This was my first competition to Stand Up on Legs and ride down the line P3 division.”

Continuing, he said, “For me personally, I got to surf with a few legends”, naming popular surfers like Mark Monroe Stewart and Parker Olenick. Further, he spoke about how he had difficulty standing during his PS3 final and had scored zeroes in the earlier rounds. Despite this, Bogle didn’t give up and later revealed, “Luckily I caught the final wave going left & stood up going down the line.” This shows his resilience to keep trying despite not getting a good score on the first attempt.

Josh Bogle’s story is proof of his tremendous grit and determination that puts him at par with Sam Bloom who also suffered from a terrible accident and later became a para surfer. Bogle’s story once again proves how nothing is impossible to achieve and his documentary shall definitely inspire millions of fans.