Double amputee learns to surf

April 24th, 2008, 12:59 pm · 2 Comments · posted by Laylan Connelly, staff writer

It didn’t take long before Mohammad Malek figured out he didn’t need legs to stand on a surfboard.
It was less than a dozen waves when Malek – a double amputee who lost both his legs from landmines in Afghanistan – pushed his arms down, flipped his hips up to the sky, and was riding the board on his head.
The spectators on the sand broke out in applause, jaws dropped. Malek sat back down, and flashed a huge smile.

The 18-year-old Afghani had discovered the stoke.

CLICK HERE or on the photo to the right to check out the very cool video done on Malek.

It was in 2005 when Malek was walking home from work at a bakery in Kabul when he saw a plant he thought would make for a good meal. He stopped his bike, and went into the brush to find one to pull from the ground.
A landmine exploded, blowing off one of his legs. After the shock wore off, he got up to try to walk on one leg to get help. Another landmine went off, his other leg gone. Shrapnel filled his left arm.
“Maybe I should die,” he said he remembered thinking.
A group of soldiers happened to come by soon after – but they were too afraid to enter the landmine filled area. They threw a root to Malek, which he clamped between his teeth so they could drag him to safety.
Malek was brought to Loma Linda University Medical Center in November for extended treatment and physical therapy for his injury.
While at the hospital, Malek has been active playing sports such as volleyball, basketball and has made great progress swimming – he will be part of a triathlon team competing this Sunday at the hospital.
It was about a week ago when Malek got his first glimpse of surfers at a beach in Los Angeles. He pushed his wheelchair to the side of the pier, and lifted his body over the railing to stare at the surfers.
“When I see them, I like. But I don’t know how to use,” he said through a translator, Mohammad Ayoub, who came with Malek from Afghanistan.
Tim Hickman, director of purchasing of the hospital, remembered seeing a news segment about a year ago on Michael Pless, owner of M & M surf school in Seal Beach, who had taught several people with disabilities how to surf over the years.
Pless himself is no stranger to disability. In 1975, at age 25, he fell off a 35-foot telephone poll and suffered a crushed heel. He was in therapy for two years learning how to walk again, trying to maintain his balance. Through it all, he continued to surf, at first laying down, then eventually standing back up. Still, he has trouble walking and can’t move his ankle.

“They told me what I could do and couldn’t do,” he said. “I worked around it.”
Also there for the surf session was Angela Madsen, a paraplegic and good friend of Pless’ who recently completed 67 days rowing across the Atlantic in a 24-foot boat with a Frechman double amputee. Madsen runs California Adaptive Rowing Programs in Long Beach, spends summers camping at San Onofre to surf, and travels the world to enter surf competitions.
The morning started out with a bit of confusion. Malek came out of the bathroom after changing into the wetsuit with the zipper in front.
When told of the mistake, he looked down, flashed an embarrassed smile, and pivoted his wheelchair back to the bathroom to turn the wetsuit around.
Seal Beach lifeguards gave Malek and Madsen a lift down to the water line. When it was time to get out of the truck, Pless instructed him to hop on his back, then lowered him onto the board, where he laid down on his stomach.
His eyes followed Pless’ hand as he applied a new layer of wax on his board.
The two did a few practice runs, Pless showing him how he would paddle and scoot up and down the board. Pless tied the leash onto Malek’s lifejacket, and they headed out to the water.
For the first few runs, Pless stayed on the board with him, both laying on their stomachs as they paddled into the wave. Before long, Malek was surfing on his own, pushing up and sitting on his bottom, flashing smiles out to those on the sand and spreading his arms wide.

The tough part wasn’t the fact that Malek didn’t have legs, but the language barrier. Pless had to use “surf talk,” as he called it, saying words like “sleep” when he wanted Malek to lay down, and “move” instead of “scoot back.”
Pless whistled for his younger son, Mike Pless Jr. to stand by the waterline to catch Malek as he came in, just in case he fell off the board.
There was no need – Malek cruised on passed Pless Jr., holding up his hand to slap a high five as he glided by on the wave.
“He said ‘I’m going to do this’,” Pless Jr. said. “I said ‘go ahead, brother’.”
He lost his balance only a few times and ended up in the water with the board rolling over him, but within seconds he was up, grabbing for the board and heading back out.
Hickman watched from the beach, letting out a “fantastic,” under his breathe as he watched Malek.
Pless Jr. was in awe when Malek busted out the headstand surf style.
“I gotta go do a headstand right now, he’s showing me up!” Pless Jr. said.
The two took waves together, side-by-side, upside down.
“He’s such a show off,” Hickman said, laughing. “I had no idea how much he’d enjoy it.”
For the next hour, the headstand was Malek’s riding style of choice.
“I’ve never had someone on their first day do a headstand,” Pless Jr. said. “I have guys surfing 30 years who can’t do it. Legs or no legs, he just did it.”
After about an hour surfing, they rode their boards to shore and Pless stooped down for Malek to jump on his back to carry him back to the parking lot.
Once they got there, Malek threw his arms around Pless, tapping his back hard.
“Thank you sir, thank you sir,” Malek repeated over and over.
Pless thanked him in return.
“He kept saying ‘one more wave’ about 12 times,” Pless said. “This is probably one of the best days of my life.”