Injured Surfer, Senator Warn of ‘Wipeouts’

In the dark, watching the same movie on Sunday afternoon, they were simply two strangers. One was a U. S. senator. The other was an injured surfer in a wheelchair.

Both became emotionally involved with the movie. Entitled “Wipeout,” the film was a 28-minute fictional story about a young surfer who became paralyzed after diving head first into the ocean and striking his head on the shallow bottom. Emotions of the fictional young victim and his family were graphically depicted.

The senator in the viewing audience at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach was Pete Wilson, a Republican from San Diego.

Emotionally Stirred

The injured surfer was John Boden, a 29-year-old Cal State Fullerton accounting major. The film was partially based on Boden’s real-life 1983 surfing injury in Newport Beach.

After the movie ended and the lights went on, Wilson told the viewing audience that he had been emotionally stirred by the plight of the injured surfer. “Having watched that film, I’m a little bit choked up in trying to speak, and I generally have no trouble speaking,” Wilson said.

A few feet away, Boden, sitting in a wheelchair, told reporters, “I’ve seen the film before, but I always have a hard time speaking right after it’s shown.”

The senator and the injured surfer, who later met each other, were at the hospital to help launch the fifth year of Project Wipeout, a program started by the hospital to educate people about prevention of spinal cord injuries from swimming accidents, such as those caused by shallow dives and falling off surfboards.

Wilson was there in his role as honorary co-chairman of 1987 Project Wipeout, and Boden was present to tell the audience about the need for such educational projects.

“Back when I had my accident, there wasn’t any type of Project Wipeout campaign to let people know about injuries that could happen like this,” Boden told the audience of about 50 people. “I’d been surfing for 10 years, up and down the coast, when it happened to me. . . . I felt I should let other people know about this and maybe help save a few lives.

“I guess the main message we’re trying to get out is: Every time before you go into that water, try to remember that the beach isn’t the same as it was yesterday. It always changes. Be careful. Let’s try to make Project Wipeout synonymous with ‘watch out.’ ”

Struck His Head

Boden’s injury in 1983 came when he misjudged the depth of water as he was riding a surfboard. “I’d been surfing in that same area off Newport Beach only the week before my accident, but there had been a big storm and the bottom had changed,” Boden said. “I fell off my board deliberately.” He said he struck his head on the unexpectedly shallow bottom.

The resulting spinal cord injury has left Boden partially paralyzed. He said he doesn’t want any other water enthusiast to have to suffer his injuries, and thus he works with Project Wipeout.

Wilson similarly told the audience that he thinks the program is important. ‘If ever there were a case for an ounce of prevention, this is it,” Wilson said. “The best thing, obviously, is prevention. This film ought to be shown everywhere. It ought to be shown in every high school and junior high school. It ought to be shown to parents on prime time (television), if we can get the sponsors.”

The Hoag-sponsored film warning on swimming and surfing dangers already has been shown to half a million high school and junior high students in Southern California, hospital officials said. Revised this year to include an opening message from surfing champ Tom Curren, the movie will again be made available to youth groups.

Alarmed at Injuries

Dr. John Skinner, a former lifeguard and lifelong surfer, is one of the Hoag physicians who helped launch Project Wipeout. In an interview, Skinner said that he became alarmed at the number of water-related spinal cord injuries that came to Hoag in 1983. He thus decided to work on the educational project, he said.

Among the messages of the educational program are: Test the water’s depth with your feet, not your head; be careful about diving; remember that the ocean floor changes with currents, tides and storm, and consult the lifeguard about ocean and swimming conditions.

Skinner said he thinks the program is working in the Orange County coastal area. “Fewer people are getting hurt who are from this area,” he said. “But now we’re seeing people injured who live inland and come out here to swim. We have to get the message to them.”

To launch this year’s campaign for that expanded educational program, the senator and the injured surfer were key speakers on Sunday afternoon. No longer strangers at the end of the program, they warmly shook hands and chatted. “John Boden, I admire you,” said the senator.

“Thank you, senator,” the injured surfer said.