Sydney man’s horror surf accident in Bocas del Toro, off the Caribbean coast

An Aussie tradie was surfing on an island in Panama when he got smashed by a wave so hard he ended up having a 12-hour operation.

An Aussie tradie was surfing on an island in Panama when he got smashed by a wave so hard, he broke his neck.

Steve Bewley, from the Northern beaches in Sydney, was visiting his brother in Bocas del Toro, off the Caribbean coast in July last year when things took an unexpected turn.

The 40-year-old carpenter, who has been surfing his entire life, decided to cap off his trip by enjoying one last surf on a reef break up the road from where he was staying.

But to his horror, he ended up in hospital where scans would later reveal Steve broke his neck so bad he ruptured the disc between C6 and C7 resulting in a 12-hour operation to insert rods.

“The lip of the wave hit me in the back and I fell forward. I must have been going really fast and on the wrong angle as my neck went back, then to the side,” Steve, who has since returned home told news.com.au.

“I instantly couldn’t feel my right arm.

“I was like ‘sh*t, I think I’ve dislocated my shoulder, this is super uncomfortable’.”

Steve Bewley, from Sydney, was surfing on an island in Panama when he suffered a horrific accident.

He managed to get back on his board but as he began paddling out to the channel, he realised he couldn’t feel his right arm.”

“I then turned my head and the worse pain I have ever felt ran across my neck and back — that’s when I realised I hurt my neck.”

Steve was helped by one of the two surfers he was with, who assisted him back to shore.

But it was a painful journey.

“We had to go over the reef, so waves were breaking and pushing us over. We then clambered up the rocks where the guy then went to get his quad bike to take me to hospital.”

“We were driving along dirt roads filled with pot holes,” Steve continued, explaining how it added to his already excruciating pain.

He broke his neck after the lip of the wave hit him in the back. Steve (pictured) said the wave was similar to the one in this picture.

“At this stage, I didn’t exactly know what was happening to me.”

The nightmare didn’t end there. When Steve got to the hospital, he said he nearly passed out from the “absolutely excruciating” pain he was in.

“I nearly fainted on my way to the Xray – I couldn’t see properly”.

When the doctors returned with the scans, they told Steve they “didn’t like that they could see” and that he needed to do CT scan.

They transported him to another hospital a few hours away by ambulance then boat undergo the scan, as they didn’t have the resources available.

By this stage, Steve was given a neck brace, anti inflammatories and pain killers, but he said little helped with the pain.

“After an hour wait, they finally took me in for a CT scan,” Steve said.

But he said the staffer “had no idea what he was doing”, and Steve had to undergo the scan for a second time about 45 minutes later.

“I then took it upon myself to find a bed to lay down.”

Steve had to undergo a 12 hour surgery to insert rods into his neck.

Steve described the pain after the accident as ‘excruciating’.

About four hours later a doctor told Steve he “hasn’t broken anything” and to just find a proper neck brace to wear for the next 15 days and he “should be fine”.

“They kept me overnight and I was on a drip but it wasn’t working so I didn’t have any fluids going into me at all.”

“Something just didn’t feel right and no one could tell me what I had done to my neck.”

Steve was eventually transferred to a private hospital five hours away where an MRI revealed the extent of the damage.

“They said I had broken C7 and the bit that was broken was stabbing into my nerve that controls my right arm and that’s why I couldn’t feel it,” Steve explained.

“The impact (of the fall) ruptured my C6 and C7 disc.”

The carpenter from the Northern beaches said he has been surfing his entire life and nothing like this has ever happened.

The operation involved making an incision down Steve’s back to attend to the bit of bone on his nerve and insert the rods.

Steve had to undergo a 12-hour surgery which involved removing a disc and replacing it with a new one and inserting rods in both sides of each vertebrae from C5 to T2.

The next operation is to have the rods removed.

“That way I will be left with C6 and C7 fused together and hopefully everything will go back to semi normal.”

But Steve said it depends how far along the fusion is now.

“They want the bone to grow over the new disc and fuse together — but it seems to be going quite slowly,” he said.

Steve, who is a carpenter and leads a very active lifestyle, said the accident has severely affected his quality of life and mental health.

“The risk is having the other vertebra fused together as well with the rods. If it looks like that is going to happen or if fusion isn’t taking as it should, I am going to have to make the call of taking the rods out and leaving one between C6 and C7.”

Steve said the accident has severely affected his quality of life and mental health. He is also unable to continue his day job as a carpenter.

“I have been so anxious. I have bouts of depression and days I can’t get out of bed,” he told news.com.au.

“All the muscles around the area (traps and neck) have been locked up for the whole time – about 10 months now.

“When they lock up all I can do is put ice on it and lay on the floor, but that’s temporary and I haven’t been able to find full relief.”

Steve has since started a GoFundMe to help with medical expenses.

“I was lucky to have travel insurance to pay for the first surgery and hospital time over there but unfortunately once I hit home soil the insurance finished,” he wrote on the page.

“So now (10 months) on in order to have a better quality of life I need to have a second surgery to remove the rods and screws from my neck.

He said any money raised over and above his medical costs will be donated to Beyond Blue so the can “continue to help others with mental health needs”.

Steve has been surfing since he was a young boy and said nothing like this has ever happened.

“I would never ever have expected something like this to happen. I have spent my whole life in the water.”