Local Matt Bellina Returns to the Water After Being Paralyzed
- Gina Onori
- Jun 8, 2016
- 3 min read
What seemed like an ordinary day at the park, turned out to be a nightmare for 40-year-old Cocoa Beach resident Matt Bellina in June 2014. Two years ago on Memorial Day weekend he and his family went to Fischer Park where he was asked to slide head down a 40-foot tall water slide for advertising pictures. Landing head first, he shattered two vertebrates in his neck leaving him paralyzed from the neck down.
Bellina stayed at two different hospitals for a total of around five months. While at the hospital he was put on a pacemaker a ventilator, and a feeding tube. When he came home he remained on a feeding tube and could not move below the neck.
“It’s a strange thing to all of the sudden not be in control of your life anymore,” said Bellina. “Nobody ever really is but I just have zero control, so it really can bum you out at times.”
As a surfer, a father, and a water enthusiast Bellina had his times of hopelessness and desperation. “Spending almost five months in a hospital with a constant barrage of being told how to prepare for the rest of your life and that quads are expected to live for ten years after their injury was frustrating.”
However, when Bellina returned home to an abundance of supportive friends and family, his perception changed and his life took a turn for the better. Bellina now lives with his mother who takes care of him, and also has a caregiver that tends to his needs. The surfer also states that being involved in the surf community for over thirty years and having been raised in Cocoa Beach helped build him a solid foundation of excellent friends. His best friend Jim McClearan checks on him every week.
“My friends and family are everything to me,” said Bellina. “Their support made the difference between me just living in a chair and getting to be myself again.”
Not only that, but his friends helped Matt get back into the water, reuniting him with his passion and nature. Bellina’s friends Krista Small and Walker Dawson are engineers and designed a custom surfboard for the paraplegic surfer and his needs. After a failed attempt last February, Matt and his acquaintances thought the anniversary of his accident would be an appropriate time to try again.
“It was the first time I had got back in the water since getting hurt so it felt really really good,” said Bellina. “I felt excited and nervous, but more than anything I felt like I was back home.”
What is more, Matt’s 3 year old son got on a surfboard with him, making the event more significant as he had never accomplished this before. Matt had been extremely worried about not being able to share water time with his son, so this moment was a huge relief and taste of bliss for the two of them.
While in the ocean Bellina wiped out on his first few waves, claiming that his friends were latching onto his life vest. On his fourth wave they let go of his vest and he surfed for about ten feet by himself. The surfer said that the wipeouts were not scary, infact they were more funny than anything.
photo: Derrol Nail
“Me and my friends had no plan at all. When we got out of the water I think everyone kind of took personal responsibility for my safety,” said Bellina.
Currently, Matt is in much better physical shape than he was two years ago. Bellina attends physical therapy three to four times weekly, which has taught him how to regain strength and use his arms and core again.
As for the future, Bellina is dedicated to gain strength in his hands and legs. He also is determined to surf on a regular basis.
“Surfing taught me a lot of life lessons,” said Bellina. “Growing up surfing in Cocoa Beach is my life, or was until I got hurt. Weather it is a job or home, surfing has just been me. Surfing and my relationship with the Lord has helped me a lot through this. I have always had the attitude that I will never not paddle out.”
