Surfers and big-wave enthusiasts are flocking to the North Shore this week for one of the biggest swells of the season. One person who won’t be in the water is Colin Cook. The 26-year-old surfer is still recovering from a shark attack last October, and lost his leg in the battle. HPR’s Molly Solomon recently caught up with him and has this report.
A morning surf session last October is still fresh in Colin Cook’s mind. The 26-year-old, who grew up in Rhode Island, moved to O‘ahu’s north shore five years ago, where he surfed daily at a popular spot known as Leftovers. “I went across the street and checked the waves,” said Cook. “It looked pretty fun so I went back, grabbed my board, and paddled out before work.”
Cook spent the next two hours catching waves and bobbing in the surf, his two legs dangling in the water. “I was sitting out there waiting for the next wave, when all of a sudden, the next thing I know I’m underwater. I open my eyes and see this huge tiger shark latched onto my leg, dragging me,” Cook recalled. “I immediately go into this fight or flight response, pushing the shark off with my left hand and punching it with my right.”
He was able to get back on his board. It was only then that he realized how bad the situation was: his leg was gone. “The leg was actually still in the shark’s mouth connected to the leash, which was on my ankle going to the board, basically dragging me around,” said Cook, who immediately yelled for help, calling over nearby surfer Keoni Bowthorpe. “He was my neighbor, I’d see him out in the water but we didn’t really know each other,” said Cook about his relationship with Bowthorpe. “But he saved my life. He was beating the shark with the paddle and I was able to jump on his board and he paddled me to shore.”
Once on shore, beachgoers rushed to help. One man applied a tourniquet made from a surf-board leash to the severed leg. Over the next few weeks, Cook underwent surgery and physical therapy, basically learning how to walk again while healing from an amputated leg. “That can be the most frustrating part, it takes a while,” he said. “I’m three months out and I’m just starting to get into the prosthetic leg. There are just so many things I have to relearn.”
Practicing my one legged pop ups , cant wait to surf again! A video posted by Colin Cook (@captaincook_2) on Nov 12, 2015 at 8:18am PST
One of the people who have helped him through that process is Melissa Baylor, Cook’s occupational therapist at the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific. “We tried to focus a lot on core-strengthening and surf-specific types of activities to make him feel like he was closer to getting back in the water,” said Baylor. “I knew that it was really important for him to get back to the same level that he wants to be at.”
Baylor said while Cook is showing vast improvement, there’s still a long road ahead, especially if he plans to return to the big waves. Amazingly though, Cook is already back in the water, just three months after his attack. “Every surfer knows that when you enter the ocean, that’s the shark’s home,” said Cook. “They’re out there, you just have to take that out of your mind.”
“I have been back out in the water surfing, but just lay-down. I go out and catch waves on my stomach, but I’m not really there yet where I’m able to stand up,” said Cook. “Surfing’s my life passion, I’ve been doing it all my life. I’m not going to let this get in the way.”
For now, Cook is continuing his physical therapy in Rhode Island. He doesn’t have a precise timetable for recovery, but he does plan to be back in the waves off the North Shore.
