Rip Curl Wetsuit Saves My Leg

Michelle Forsbray, Tells Her Story Of How Wetsuit Saves Her Leg.

On Ssturday 6th Dec, I went for a surf at Bournemouth, it was a lush day with great surf.

Super Duper sunny.

However it all went wrong:

I remember making a decision before I went out on which winter suit to wear. I have a Rip Curl Flash Bomb, Rip Curl 5"3 from a few years ago & a O Neill Synergy.
All purchased at my local surf shop "Sorted" :0))

I nearly went for the Synergy as its not uber cold yet & want to get the full benefit of the G Bomb when it gets colder, as it is toasty, drys quick & I can stay in the water longer.

Haha.. I went for toasty G Bomb, im a light weight I know!

Well that decision probably saved my life!

I was on my way outback & a wave was just about to crash on me, I jumped with my board at my side but the sheer power of the wave took the board out of my hands. The next thing I felt was a big wrench to my leg and suit. I instantly knew it was bad!
I grabbed my leg and asked my friend to grab my board..

I could hardly walk & just wanted to put pressure on the affected area.

 

I asked my friend if my suit was ripped. I knew it was but couldn't look. She looked and said u need to get to the van & I will call ambulance it looks pretty bad.

I got to the van where her 7 yr old son was. He was wearing his life guard hoody. Bless him I said Leo u may need to be chief lifeguard now!

Before I sat down zoe said I need to see your leg. I took down my suit, saw a glimpse of the inside of my leg & couldn't look any more.
Zoe then looked, grabbed the phone and called 999.

I just held my leg as tight as I could. I had my Rip Curl Flash Bomb wetsuit on over it, which added pressure and cover it, & also put on my Wave Project Hoody to keep warm.
I could not look at the wound and knew I had to stay in control
& not go into shock.

Zoe was finding it hard to get a good reception when talking to A&E, I was getting worried and said please get Tom from Surf Steps.

 

Zoe's son Leo knows him & Zoe asked him to get Tom, a member of the public was walking by at the time & said I will go with him.

Leo went straight to the office where and said my mums friend is injured we need Tom. Tom was in the water taking a lesson, his colleague called him in & he ran straight to me with Leo.

By the time Tom got to me another member of the pubic, who was a A&E nurse from up North was with me,.(She was a life saver) Thank you :0)

Zoe was still on the phone.
She said I need to see your wound so I can talk to paramedics.

I let her take down my suit..
I could not look & just squeezed Toms hands..

She then spoke to them and said its pretty deep. She said to me, I may need to stay overnight as it is quite deep & may need washing out properly. (Worst case scenario)

Both Tom & the lady said we need to get the wetsuit off otherwise it will be cut off..

It's a thick suit & very tight, apparently it was not a easy job as my leg was stuck to it & flesh coming out of my leg. I saw some on the floor of the van. Gross!!!

They got it off plus my 7mm Flash Bomb Boots.. (Which I struggle to get off myself)

Toms circulation in his hands had pretty much been cut off by the time they had finished as I squeezed them so tight.

I kept calm, In fact we all did.

The nurse then got dome dressing until a&e turned up.
Firstly a quick responder then the ambulance.

I was then taken to hospital.

I had 10 stitches... & it then bled a lot once at hospital and no pressure on it.

The Doctor said I was really lucky as it was right nr my artery & very deep.

The next day I got an infection and after speaking up my sister who is a Doctor went back to A&E.
They re dressed the wound, gave me stronger antibiotics and crutches.

9 days later I had my stiches out! I didn't want them out. But it was time to.

I then cried for the first time!
Baby I know, I locked myself in the toilet at the Docs & cried!
Haha... I just wanted the stiches to stay in. It felt safer.

Part of the wound was still open & by the next day I was back to the nurse as more of it had opened.
I had the sticky stitches on for 2 weeks & had them taken off on Xmas Eve.

I have also got three blood clots in my veins above the wound, where I think the area was traumatised as that part was very bruised after the accident. I am going to request a ultra sound scan as I am a Airline Stewardess & a bit worried re flying.

Tom has fixed my Flash Bomb wetsuit.

The hole in my suit is in the lower part if the leg, right near a seam. Nowhere near the injury.

I think my suit saved my life! If that seam had not been there, I would have been in a much worse state for sure.

The fin must have wrenched itself up & then injured me.
The injury is on the upper inside of my knee to half way up my leg.

I have looked at my other winter suit & keep doing so, as honestly if I had worn that I perhaps would not be here now.

Thank you Rip Curl for making such a great suit.

Wetsuit Review Of The O'Neill Epic Wetsuit 2015

Wetsuit Centre Reviews The New O'Neill Epic Wetsuit.

O'Neill from the humble beginnings of Jack O'Neill making his very first wetsuit have never stopped in the quest to produce the best and warmest suit to keep you in the water for longer.

The best selling suit is still the O'Neill Epic and for very good reason. It simply keeps getting better and better in terms of materials used and warmth features added each year. Now for summer 2015 O'Neill have yet again stepped up the game on having the best suit on the market at the best price point. As this year the suit is using 100% super stretch material throughout the entire suit. This means that you have unrestricted movement in every panel of the suit and the more flex you have the better it fits and the less tired you become in the water. As O'Neill are all about staying in the water for as long as possible this is certainly a suit worth considering.

Wetsuit Centre takes a look at what is new for the Epic 3mm wetsuit in 2015 and what this means to all of us that use the products. We try to give this review an unbiased view on what is good and bad with the suit and get some time to explain the jargon and technical features. We test all the products as year on year they do change so it is useful to find out what is new.