A young California man is sharing his story and raising awareness of an extremely rare diagnosis stemming from a freak surfing accident at Hawaii’s Waikiki Beach.
Back in 2021, Brandon Louie, a native of Los Altos in Santa Clara County, was enjoying the waves at Waikiki like any other surfer and says he caught about half-a-dozen waves before feeling a sharp pain as he rode the last one in.
Louie said he felt a pop in his lower back followed by a shooting pain up his spine and down his legs; he swam in and laid down on the beach as the pain worsened.
“I would say I laid down for no more than 10 minutes, when the pain kept getting worse and worse, then just disappeared completely,” he told KTLA sister station KHON2 . “Along with it, all the feeling and movement in my legs.”
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Louie was rushed to the Queens Medical Center in Honolulu where, after numerous tests, doctors diagnosed him with surfer’s myelopathy , meaning he was paralyzed.