Disabled surfer still in search of perfect wave
By William Cole
Advertiser Staff Writer
Duke Kahanamoku stands larger than life in statue form at Kuhio Beach, longboard behind him, hero and icon to the surfing world.
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But old Duke had nothing on surfer John Ross-Duggan Friday at the spot off Kuhio called "Canoes."
Paraplegic John Ross-Duggan catches a wave off Waikiki. His paralysis is a result of a car accident 23 years ago.
Despite a car crash 23 years ago that left him paralyzed from the chest down and with limited use of his arms, Ross-Duggan fought his way back to the sport he loves, re-learning how to swim, taking up sailing and — finally — hitting the waves again.
A 10-foot board fitted with side cushions allows him to surf in a prone position, while his brother, Jeremy, gives him a hand when he falls off.
It's a far cry from Ross-Duggan's competitive surfing days at the University of California-Irvine, but it's good enough.
"Put it this way," he said. "I cry after a good wave."
The 45-year-old Newport Beach man has been in Hawai'i for more than a week — surfing every day. Honolulu Fire Department deputy chief John Clark read about Ross-Duggan in LongBoard Magazine, got in touch with him, and has been helping him out during his free time.
Clark, a surfer himself, has seen surfers with prosthetic limbs and disabled individuals pushed for a short distance on a surfboard, but never someone paralyzed surfing by himself.
"I can appreciate a love of the ocean and surfing, and I'm really impressed that with his disability, he still loves the ocean enough to get back on a board and challenge it," Clark said.
Ross-Duggan sees so much value in getting back on his surfboard that he wants to start up a surf camp for the disabled. Surfing also helps break down barriers, he has found.
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"Everywhere I go, I find there is stigma and a lot of fear toward disability and illness," he said. "If I can drop that down one notch in my lifetime, then I've done something."
John Ross-Duggan shows his board to "Dewey" Medeiros. The side rails keep him centered; the pad at top is a chin rest.
Reaching the point Ross-Duggan is at hasn't been easy or quick.
He was a third-year med school student at Duke University 23 years ago when he lost control of his car and hit a bridge, breaking his neck at vertebrae C6-7, and losing all feeling from the chest down and much of his arm movement.
"I was depressed for at least 10 years, but I was able to go on," he said. "Sports were a good way to keep me from getting depressed."
Six months after the accident he started to swim to get in shape.
That was followed by sailing and a bronze medal in the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta and a gold medal in the 1998 World Disabled Sailing Championship.
He graduated to surfing last year from paddling on a surfboard.
Ross-Duggan, who is a radiologist, went to Maui last year and picked Waikiki this year for its gentler waves. C&K Beachboy Service, owned by Clyde Aikau, the brother of surfing great Eddie Aikau, has been providing some free manpower to carry Ross-Duggan from his wheelchair to the surf.
"Once he's in the water he's like a fish," said Dewey Medeiros, who works on the beach and has been helping Ross-Duggan. But he sometimes still gets in over his head.
"People tell me not to underestimate myself, but a couple of days ago, I took on an 8-foot wave and I was way outside my envelope," he said.
Seeing Ross-Duggan make the transition from wheelchair to surfboard and blend in with hundreds of other surfers paddling out to the waves off Kuhio drew stares and admiration from the beach.
"That's unbelievable," said a vacationing Penny Reinart from Texas. "It goes to show what determination can do for you."
