Matthew Lee walked into the ocean in Carlsbad on August 28, 2026. He was carried out.
The experienced bodysurfer dove headfirst into a sandbar, breaking his neck. He was left temporarily paralyzed, floating face down in the water.
"I remember very vividly hitting the sand and hearing underwater, my neck break," Lee said."And I was floating face down in the water, totally awake but couldn't move anything.”
Lee's friend Bryce Mihaly was in the water nearby. Mihaly, who works alongside Lee as a paramedic, initially wasn't sure what was happening.
"I thought he was just joking for a minute, so I kind of was, I was quickly walking towards him, but once about 30 seconds that, I figured out, probably not joking too much," Mihaly said.
His life-saving training quickly took over.
"I'm accustomed to working with critical and sick patients, but it's not the same when it's someone you know, when it's a buddy of yours, it's a little bit different," Mihaly said.
Nearly two weeks later, Lee is recovering in the hospital from a broken neck, collapsed esophagus, and damaged spinal cord. By focusing his mind on healing, he has regained feeling in his lower body and strength in his upper body.
A nurse's words helped drive that determination.
"I had a really amazing nurse. She said, the power of your mind can go many places, and she said if you can will it with your mind, you can make it happen. And so after I don't know, 20 or 30 people came in every day, I would spend hours and hours and hours a night willing it to work" Lee said.
Lee is hopeful he can return to the ocean one day and is certain he will walk again.
"I'll have to call you and then we can go hike Mount Whitney together," Lee said.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Lee on his road to recovery.
To donate, click here.
