TIMO MULLEN
It really is scary to think this all happened a year ago now, and as I head back to Mauritius this year I know it will be difficult to not think all the time about what happened to Whitey.
It was pretty big that day, mast high plus, which makes all the breaks pretty scary and a lot of current running. As I came in from my session I saw Skyeboy sailing out and he asked me where was best to go and I told him Manawa, as One Eye was just a close out. I didn’t realise Whitey was also sailing out, which would have been worrying as the wind was very light! About an hour later I was sat on a sun lounger on the beach with my wife when she told me that a guy pulling up in a boat looked like Whitey. At first I thought it was just one of the RRD dealers who had broke a mast, but then sure enough I saw it was Whitey, and he didn’t look good! With Whitey you always expect some sort of disaster, so as I ran down to the boat I was expecting a broken leg, but the moment I saw him I knew it was really bad. I spotted he had a stroke straight away. The FAST acronym – Facial drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulties and Time to call emergency services, is drummed into me from any first aid courses I have been on. I know Whitey so well I could see that he was suffering from the 3 main symptoms. I knew time was very crucial but we had to move a 110kg dead weight out of a boat on the beach to a make shift stretcher (sun lounger) and carry him through the hotel to the medical facility on site. The Doctor confirmed that it was likely he had a stroke and was busy organising ambulances to take him to hospital, which unfortunately was 90 minutes away. To be honest I thought Whitey was going to die in front of me and all I could think to do was just hold him tight and give him a hug and tell him that I was there and would make sure I’d stay with him. I spoke on the phone with Sally, his wife, and remember telling her that this wasn’t the usual Whitey disaster and that she should get on the next immediate flight to Mauritius. The drive behind the ambulance to the hospital was pretty crazy as the ambulance was going flat out through every red light with me trying to stay on its tail whilst on the phone to his insurance company trying to get everything ready for his arrival at the hospital. I remember thinking how ironic this was as I drive like Miss Daisy and Whitey always rips it out of me for that. Yet here I was driving like a total maniac and Whitey didn’t even get to see it!! When we arrived at the hospital, I realised no one spoke English and it was a Sunday, so all the good doctors were not on duty. Luckily I had Pam Green, a stroke rehab specialist and friend of Dave’s, on the phone telling me what to tell the nurses on call at the hospital. I had to do this in French, so it was quite daunting. The good news was that Dave could sit up straight and could lift both his arms and give a firm handshake with both arms. His speech was slurred and his face had dropped, but physically he was looking better than an hour ago. I left him to the specialists and later that evening I was able to see him and again he seemed better but very tired. Both John and I felt confident that he would make a bit of a recovery, however unfortunately during the night it turned out that Dave had another stroke and this is what set him back. Dave stayed in hospital for a further 2 weeks in Mauritius, not the holiday extension he wanted, but now safely back in the UK I know Dave is in good hands and I am confident he will be back on the water sooner rather than later, plus he has managed to jinx the whole year for wind! I reckon he has only missed about 10 good sessions on the water!! Big thanks must go though to the two local pro kiters who saved Dave’s life, and I mean, save his life. 100% he would be dead if it was not for their selfless heroic actions. They literally held Dave in the water, keeping him from going under in mast high plus swell and bringing him to shore with the help of a local boatman, take a bow Willow River Tonkin and Taylor Holl.
