Don't die, don't die: Haruto Morishita, a working holiday tourist from Japan, dived into a very popular ocean pool late at night and was unlucky enough to hit the bottom of the seawater pool with his head hitting the bottom of the pool, paralyzing from the chest down, suffering irreparable damage to his spinal cord, and being unable to breathe independently.
A 22-year-old surfer from Japan, who has spent his life traveling around the world on a working holiday and lives on Sydney's North Beach, ended his working holiday life with paralysis from the chest down when he dived into Dee Why's ocean pool on October 27 with a serious spinal injury. A horrific accident instantly changed his life, and two weeks later Haruto Morishita faces an uncertain future as he fights for his life in intensive care.
His head hit the bottom of the pool, causing a fracture of one of the vertebrae and severe damage to his spinal cord. Moving his arm or leg, Mr Haruto Morishita was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery and on life support as his parents were rushing frantically to his bedside from Japan.
Two weeks later, he removed his life support system and was able to speak again, but his own breathing was still difficult. His arm movement was very limited and he was unable to move his fingers due to a spinal cord injury, which was irreparable.
It is not clear how long Mr. Morishita will stay in the hospital. Friends who have rallied around the surfers were told that the chances of his body movement returning to what it once were were close to zero.
Despite the arduous road to recovery ahead, Mr Haruto Morishita remained in high spirits and once he was able to speak again, he asked if he would start physiotherapy. As he is not an Australian citizen or permanent resident, his medical expenses are only covered by short-term overseas visitors health insurance.
Originally from Yokohama, Morishita arrived in Sydney earlier this year for a holiday when the disaster struck and had just started working at a café in Brookvale.
Nearly $40,000 was raised for future rehabilitation and repatriation costs. It could take months for his condition to stabilize enough to return to Japan for further treatment. ”
