Four-time world para surfing champion and best-selling author Sam Bloom would do anything to go back in time. But she’s learnt how to make the best of a challenging situation.
“I would give everything back just to be me again, all the books, the movie, the world titles, everything,” she said.
Ms Bloom suffered severe damage to her spinal cord that left her paralysed from the chest down when she fell through a rotten balcony railing and crashed six metres onto the concrete below while on holiday in Thailand in 2013.
Her sons were seven, nine and 10 at the time of the accident.
More than 10 years later, the Sydney-based surfer wants to tell other women going through a tough time that it’s OK to ask for help.
“Life isn’t always perfect and it’s OK to have a bad day,” she said.
Ms Bloom will bring her story of resilience and perseverance to the Newcastle Racecourse’s International Women’s Day (IWD) event on Friday, March 7.
She was looking forward to holding a question-and-answer session in a room full of women.
“They’re one of my favourite events because you see them laughing and crying,” she said.
Ms Bloom said she loved sharing her story because everyone had faced hardships and challenges throughout their life.
“That’s the one benefit that has come out of this whole accident, is helping other people,” she said.
Her 2013 incident was one of the most “challenging things” she has had to face but getting into kayaking and parasurfing changed everything for her.
“I was in hospital for seven months and when I came home, that was probably my lowest, I think that was when reality kicked in,” she said.
“It was like I finally felt like I had a purpose and reason to get up out of bed.”
Ms Bloom’s recovery and her experience nursing a baby magpie, affectionately called Penguin, back to health, was turned into the book Penguin Bloom and into a movie by the same name.
IWD at Newcastle Racecourse
The Newcastle IWD event will feature a three-course lunch, a five-hour beverage package, live entertainment as well as raffles and auctions. Tickets cost $229 a person.
Racecourse CEO Duane Dowell said the day would raise funds for Newcastle not-for-profits, Jenny’s Place and Grow a Star.
Photo Credit: Cameron Bloom