Brad Smeele Autobiography

Brad Smeele is a 42 year old former wakeboarder. When he was 33 he had a severe wakeboarding accident whilst trying an extremely hard trick for filming and he shattered a vertebrae in his neck. This is when he became quadrapalegic.

Brad Smeele was born on the 15th of January 1981, and he grew up in Panell, Auckland, New Zealand. Brad grew to love Wakeboarding and when Brad was 17, he moved to Sunny Califourna to pursue his dream to wakeboard. And pursue he did. In his wakeboarding career, Brad landed two Junior World titles and became one of the first in the world to land a ‘1080.’ He became more and more confident when he was wakeboarding and in 2014 he succeeded in landing the world’s first ‘Double Tantrum to blind’ stunt.

That's when his life turned upside down.

On the 6th of July 2017 while Brad was 33. He and some others were filming and Brad was asked to do the 'Double Tantrum to blind’ stunt for filming reasons. And so he did. But on the way down he landed head first onto a ramp and shattered the 4th vertebrae in his neck. Then he became quadrapalegic.

Brad then had a 9 hour surgery on his neck and he felt like giving up. He couldn't accept that his life was like this now. But his friends had his back. "Little things make big impact" Brad commented. Brad said that he felt like everything was the same except for him. He felt like he didn't know who he was anymore. Brad used to compare himself to other people. And when he saw others who had shattered their 6th vertebrae in their neck he wished he could be them. Because shattering your 6th vertebrae is better than your 4th. But one day he saw someone who had shattered their 2nd vetrebrae in their neck and he realised he was lucky. A year later the guy who had shattered his 2nd vetrebare passed away. "Comparison is the killer of joy," Brad said.

Brad had to have 3 years of rehab and he worked really hard to try and get his arms moving again. The doctors said he had a very low chance of getting them to move. Even though Brad failed in getting his arms to move again he started to realise the value of himself. "I know I'm good enough, you're good enough" he said. "This journey was about learning to love myself"

Brad is now 42 years old and is an inspirational figure. He has written his own book called "Own you" Which comes from his quote "Own you. Own your life. Be proud of yourself. Own your passions, successes and failures" and he is being himself and enjoying life. He said that you should look at yourself sometimes and know that your attitude, efforts and actions can affect everything.

- "Never forget yesterday, but always live for today. Because you never know what tomorrow can bring, or what it can take away." 

By Mackenzie Gwerder