Kendall Gilding on husband’s terrifying Burleigh Beach accident
Kendall Gilding reveals her husband’s terrifying beach accident during their annual holiday at the coast.
QWeekend
Don't miss out on the headlines from QWeekend. Followed categories will be added to My News.
How do you continue a tradition when it betrays you? Do you attempt to piece it back together and try again? Or will its sting sour the experience forever?
Our family takes a one-week holiday to Burleigh Beach each year.
It’s become the closest thing to a tradition I’ve ever known and that’s because I diligently book and pack our family of four into a car and head down the M1 each early December.
I’m the only member of my clan that loves the beach. The sand, the water, the sunshine. The rest of them are a little tortured by the idea, let alone when they actually get the sand stuck all over their bodies.
We’ve been staying at the same place ever since our youngest child was born, and I’m not ready to give it up!
This year I could taste the sea breeze weeks before we got anywhere near the beach. As a newly self-employed worker I was grinding to the finish line. This would be my first bit of downtime in 12 months. Everyone who came into contact with me heard about my upcoming holiday!
This year was different – my mum was turning 60, so we invited the whole family from Cairns to stay with us. I’m one of four kids, so we formed quite a posse! Everyone came for seven nights, but we chose to stay for one more.
As we woke on Sunday I begged to go for a final swim. A 10-minute trip to the beach, nothing more. No CoolCabana, no snacks, no water bottles, no frills. A dip in mother nature to tide me over. But what happened in those 10 minutes changed our lives.
I was holding on to both the kids. Two-year-old Moses on my hip, five-year-old Olive clasping my hand. She was ankle-deep in the water, lapping up the crisp waves as they tumbled in. My husband Timothy went out for a swim. When you’re a parent that’s how it works – you don’t get to swim together – you tag team.
The next thing I knew he was limping from the water. He made his way to the dry sand and collapsed, telling me he “heard something crack” after being viciously dumped by a wave into a sandbank.
Initially I dismissed his concerns, but he suddenly started having a seizure, right there on the shore of our favourite beach, with our two children staring in his eyes. I screamed for help, feeling powerless to leave him. Waves smashed into my legs, almost swallowing Olive as I gripped her hand. As I yelled it felt like no sound was coming out. I’ve built a career on speaking but when I needed it most, my voice failed me. The world felt loud. All I could do was wave. A panicked flapping of arms to signal I needed help.
Help did arrive. Volunteer lifesavers came to our rescue. You never know how desperately you’ll need them, until you finally need them. They stabilised Timothy and treated him with dignity and respect. They took his concerns seriously from the second they arrived. They also gave me the confidence to leave him there on the beach. A moment that broke my heart in two.
No one tells you that when you become a parent you’ll constantly make decisions that split your soul in half. Life forces you to choose one thing over another, when you wish it was possible to be in two places at once. I needed to take the kids, get them clean and dry, pack up our two cars and check out of our accommodation.
Something I never dreamed I’d be doing alone because my husband would be in the Emergency Department.
An MRI confirmed Timothy had broken his back in two places. It’s a miracle he didn’t damage his spinal cord and find himself unable to walk. The worst of it is a neck brace. No lifting, no driving, a slow recovery for the next few months. But he will recover and, with time, life will return to normal.
Our summer changed in just 10 minutes. If I’d known what was coming, would I have craved that beach holiday? Would I have insisted on a final swim? Would I have picked a fight with Timothy over the exact spot we’d place ourselves along the beach that morning? Of course not! I’m desperate to rewind time!
Instead, we try to heal. Heal from the moment of impact. Heal from the injury. Heal from the shock. Heal from the trauma.
As a family – we all suffered from the trauma. I can’t guarantee our tradition will live on, but thankfully my husband will! And that’s worth more than any beach trip.
What your child’s name says about you
Naming your child is a major responsibility: many can’t help but choose something so absurd they will never be overlooked, writes Nikki Osborne.
Standout dish that will make you book your next visit immediately
It’s attracted celebrities and royalty in its opening weeks, now this new restaurant from the team behind Burleigh’s Rick Shores has won over our reviewer.