The surfing community is rallying around rising star Kai McKenzie after the 23-year-old lost his leg in a dramatic encounter with a three-metre white shark on the NSW Mid North Coast.
The surfer remains in a serious condition in Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital after he fought off the shark and caught a wave to safety at North Shore Beach near Port Macquarie.
Lifeguards and bystanders, including an off-duty police officer, used a dog leash as a tourniquet to stem the bleeding before he was flown to hospital without his right leg.
The limb washed up on shore a short time later and was put on ice and taken to hospital separately, NSW Police said.
Friends, family and the wider surfing community expressed their shock at the attack, saying McKenzie, from Bonny Hills south of Port Macquarie, had only just returned to the water after a spinal injury.
Surf brand Rage, who sponsor McKenzie, said he was “the toughest person we know”.
Emergency services care for Kai McKenzie after the attack on Tuesday.Credit: Nine News
“Breaking his back last year, he never once complained … [he] always just got on with doing what he loved as soon as possible,” the label wrote on Instagram. “He is an inspiring person.”
Tweed Heads board shaper Luke Short, whose boards McKenzie has been riding since the pair met five years ago, said he was still processing the news.
“Straight away, I think of my kids. It’s always in the back of your mind a little bit, but when something like this happens to a friend, it’s a weird one, that’s for sure,” he said. “Everyone’s happy it’s pretty flat up here at the moment – you don’t have to get out for a surf.”
Short said McKenzie paired his job installing crematoriums with painting, playing music and “trying to make a bit of a career with his surfing and skating”.
The surfboard in the back of an emergency vehicle at Port Macquarie on Tuesday.Credit: Nine News
After floods hit the northern rivers, McKenzie put his job on hold for weeks to help rebuild a friend’s house. Short said his friends would do the same and help in “anyway they can”.
“I’m sure he doesn’t realise it, but he’s got a lot of people who care about him,” Short said.
Michelle McKenzie, his aunt, said her nephew always lived life to the fullest, “squeezing every minute out of the day”.
A crowdfund set up to help McKenzie and his family has so far raised $76,000 of the $100,000 target.
Neighbour Lauren Mac, who set up the GoFundMe page, said McKenzie faced a “long road to recovery”.
Mac said McKenzie was in a stable condition after the surgery on Wednesday.
Hunter New England Local Health District did not give further details on his condition, citing patient privacy.
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