- One of the world's best is now in a local hospital. - Breathing only with the help of a machine. - And paralysed from the neck down. - BRAD: After the accident, I was in a really dark place. - NARRATOR: At the peak of his career, Brad's world turned upside down. But instead of giving up, he took a different path. - So I was like, 'Well, screw it. I'm gonna own this.' I know that I'm not my injury. Thinking back to the Brad from before my accident ` 6'2", model pro athlete, muscles, girls, whatever ` I feel like I'm more confident in knowing who I am and my worth now than I was back then. (POIGNANT MUSIC) www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2025 - WOMAN: Go? (BOAT ENGINE REVS) - I found wakeboarding when I was, I think, 12 years old. I was completely hooked and just addicted to it. I decided that that's what I wanted to do and kind of dropped out of school here early and took off to the States. Came home with a junior world title at the end of that year. That was the start of 11 years of back-to-back summers. - I think I was 18, and he would've been, like, 13. Went from being the little grom that, you know, we'd help out and try to get him sponsors, and then he got to the point where he was giving us sponsors. (UPBEAT ROCK MUSIC) - He was right away very talented. For him to be, like, a tall guy and then to have such great style, like, stood out. He'd won a junior world title. He'd been travelling on the pro tour. He was, like, commentating. He was starting to do DVD and magazine stuff. This was his career really exploding on to a level of guys that were world champions and, like, top-tier pros. We started travelling and going to competitions together. We were frickin' rock stars. Every girl in the state knew us. You came to a wakeboard contest; you spent your time signing boobs. - What was the hardest thing about travelling with Brad? - Probably that he's this giant wakeboard dude and he steals all the chicks all the time. God, it's hard to go out with that guy. - Yeah, it was quite the life. Things were really, really kind of peaking at that point for me. And, uh, unfortunately, that's where things went pear-shaped. Jett, come. (WHISTLES) Up, up. Jett, come. Oh, hello. Good morning, mate. Good hugs, eh? 'I am a C4 quadriplegic.' Just hugs. Yeah. Morning, buddy. Good morning. 'No movement from the shoulders down.' That's good. The best hugs. 'The most common misconceptions, really, are you have zero feeling below your level of injury.' All right. Should we get me up? 'I have loads of feeling, but not on the outside. 'And unfortunately, it's mostly pain. 'I've got a catheter which goes in surgically through just below my belly button into my bladder. 'Sexual function is another one people are often quite curious about.' There is still sexual function there, but just not complete sexual function. There are a lot of things that I can't do and that I rely on people for. And that is... one of the most frustrating things, especially coming from a pro athlete mindset. Jeez, it's nice to feel like it's finally starting to warm up a little though. - Yeah, a little crisp in the mornings, but... - Brant, a long-time friend and pro wake boarder, is Brad's full-time carer. - We're coming up nine years, I think. - We were already spending Sundays hanging out together watching sports. So we're like, 'Well, you may as well be getting paid for it.' Um, things going from friends to then, like a working environment, which I think there's always gonna be those sort of teething pains. But no, it was just` I think, like any relationship, you got to like, talk through it and communicate and just... - We've been doing it for so long now that it's sort of` it's really blended itself into one thing. Um, but there are times that I've got to stop hanging out and do certain jobs that need doing. Obviously a little bit to learn. Having someone's life in your hands, you know, it's not just sort of super straightforward. You've got to know a few little things to keep them alive in case of sort of any emergencies. - It's not too bad, actually. - Yeah, there's no major dip. (ROCK MUSIC) - Ow! (CHUCKLES) Coming into 2013, it was all just starting to sort of build on itself. I'd found the direction that I wanted to push myself in wakeboarding, and the opportunity to work on a big-budget film ` that was just awesome. I knew the sponsors and everyone would be watching it. The pressure was on to land the biggest tricks. - And Brad had pioneered a trick called the Double Indy Tantrum to Blind, which no one had done at that point, and especially over that big-air setup was very, very, very dangerous. And they wanted to get this double backflip with this half twist in it on film. I mean, at that point, it was the hardest trick ever done. (CHEERING) It just felt gnarly. I knew it was gnarly, and I could always tell that there was something that could go wrong. - We weren't quite nailing it the way we wanted, but I was getting really close, and I'd had a few ones where I'd landed, and I, you know, couldn't stay up on the board. - It was always one of those things` We made jokes about that you never, ever say, 'One more.' It was like this` Something always goes wrong when you say, 'One more.' And Brad was like, you know, 'One more.' (TENSE MUSIC) - As I came off the top of the ramp, I looked down, and I knew I'd messed up I kind of, yeah, 'Oh, (BLEEP).' (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) - I genuinely thought he had been killed. - Next thing, I woke up. I was just looking up at the clouds. Saw my buddies kind of around me, but I couldn't move. And chaos was going on around me. I was like, 'OK, I'll take my board off. Like, this is uncomfortable.' And then at that point Deano was like, 'Mate, we've already taken it off. 'Like, it's. not there.' And so that's where, yeah, where I really started to feel like, 'OK, something's really wrong here.' (TENSE MUSIC) (SIREN WAILS) - He was there in ICU for about six weeks, and it was really, really tough to see him. I remember the first week, he was barely conscious. It was just so much uncertainty of what the future would bring that all we could do was take it day by day. - I was on a ventilator; I had pneumonia. It felt like I was laying on the bed with a whole bunch of sandbags on top of me. Looking forward to getting out of this place. - Absolutely. For sure. - Yeah, absolutely. - Well, if I can be so high and mighty, this is definitely one step in the right direction. - I was in a really dark place. I kind of felt like if there was a button I could push to end it, I would've. Because I just` I couldn't fathom how life could be any good, um, without the use of my body. - Push. There you go. - The main thing for us as a family was just to support him. It was... learning how to support someone and be there without necessarily solving problems for them. - So this is Imperial Lane, and tonight we're gonna have around 500 friends, family, fans of Brad's. Uh, they're gonna join us here; listen to some great music; buy some T-shirts, some wristbands, and then raise some money and send it off to Atlanta for his rehab. - Stay strong, Brad! - Love you, Brad! - You know, there were fundraisers going on in countries I'd never been to before. And that was something that kind of like` I'm like, 'Eh? That doesn't make any sense.' - Anybody? 250. We got two` How much? We got 300 down the back? Yeah? - Having the community around me was like... that was what turned things around for me. - Brad is strong both in mind and body, and he will fight with everything he has to prove those doctors wrong. - I think the 1% to 2% chance that the doctor gave me, like, straight away, I kind of went, 'Well, that's something.' I felt like I'd defied those odds throughout my career. You know, at that point I was like, 'Well, they're not great odds, 'but I'll run with it.' I decided to fight. (INTENSE MUSIC) They don't know how hard I can work. They don't know how driven and motivated I am. I'm going to prove these doctors wrong. I just started searching for anything and everything that I could do. Three days a week I was doing five hours a day of rehab. I wanted to be in the gym every single day. That was the only way I was gonna be happy, the only way I was gonna be able to find any sort of joy in life. (INTENSE MUSIC CONTINUES) If you spent every single day going up to this big rock that you wanted to move, and you put everything you had into moving that rock every single day, and after three years, you went back up to that rock again and you realise that rock hadn't moved one bit. - Use your head as one... All right. Let's leave it there for today, eh? (SOFT ELECTRONIC MUSIC) - I'd been doing three years of non-stop physical rehab when I realised I hadn't actually fully taken on acceptance. I thought I was having to accept everything that I believed my injury meant for the future. Acceptance is accepting what is in the here and now. - # You know where we're at. - Accepting that there are some things that I might not be able to change about the situation. - # Some things I can't take back. - I spent way too much time dwelling on the past. - # It was just a passing quip. - So I was like, 'Well, screw it, I'm gonna own this. 'I'll be the best version of me that I can be, regardless of what I have control of. - # With words, don't come back. # - Start looking forward and focus on what I am grateful for, and the real objective here is happiness regardless of if I'm gonna get movement back or not. Come on, boy. - NARRATOR: Brad lives on a lifestyle property with his brother, Alex. - Good morning, ladies. - Heel. Yes. - Living with Brad, it's not something I would have expected before the accident, that we would end up being flatmates or co-owners. - Jett, chill out, mate. (JETT PANTS) - Sit. - We're working together; we're living together, and we still don't want to kill each other, (CHUCKLES) so it seems to work pretty well. (HEN CLUCKS) - How many have we got? - Five. - Oh, nice! - Decent haul. - Yeah. - For a scramble. (JETT PANTS) You gonna chill out? Hey. - Relax, bro. - It's all good. - They're friends, my food. - (CHUCKLES) - So Jett's my dog. Aw, I think I'm in love. We found each other at the start of this year. Let's get you home, bud. Oh, Jett, you are such a... And it kills me that I can't, like, pat the little guy and give him hugs and everything, you know, because you want to give them all this affection. But it's, um` it's just brought me a lot of joy to have this little companion. (EGG SIZZLES) - So, Brad, you're excited to going over for Worlds to Aussie? - Yeah, the first time it's been back at Oz since we were there. - Yeah. I mean, what was that, 2005? The first time the Wakeboard Worlds had been held in Australia since I won my junior world title. Turns out a good buddy of mine was, um, helping organise that. And so he reached out and said, 'Hey, would you be keen to do the live commentary for it?' - How are you feeling about it all? - Yeah, I'm probably not gonna get much of a holiday, but um, no, I'm excited for it. Like, it's gonna be a lot of work. Since my accident, I kind of pulled away for a while, so... - Hearing about Brad's accident definitely shook things up in realising that getting injured in this seriousness of level, is that it's possible. - If anything, it sort of made me want to ride more, to be honest. Just because I realise, you know, how quickly it can all end. So you want to make the most of it as much as you can. - ALEX: Was it, ride for those who can't? - Yes, that was sort of a big movement straight away. - I think a lot of people were affected. It's been 10 years now, so there are probably kids that'll be there at Worlds that have no idea who I am or what happened. - Now it's a whole new scene, a whole bunch of fresh blood that we don't really know that much. Yeah, if you get` if you get a trick wrong... (ALL CHUCKLE) - Honestly, with what the kids are doing these days, I will be getting some stuff wrong. VOICEOVER: Niggling knee pain flaring up? Voltaren Pain Relief Gel 12 Hourly helps keep you going. With up to 12 hours of targeted pain relief, so you can keep up all race and maybe even catch old mate. Hey Bill! - NARRATOR: 10 years ago, Brad was here dominating the scene. Today he's making a comeback, but not on water. - Good morning, folks. Brad Smeele just coming into the booth for the Nautique's WWA Wake Park World Championships. - Backside 900. He's got on the toes. Absolutely` Oh my goodness. - Starting it off there with the Moby Dick off that XL KK coming from the outside to front board-side. 450 off of that rail. Really cool to see just the future of wakeboarding looking so good. - Up he goes on the pipe to pipe through the middle. Let's go! - Back to the top of the order with the adaptive division. - And a massive raley. - I'm really honoured to be here, and honestly, I attribute a lot of the way that I was able to overcome my injury to what I learned throughout my career as a wakeboarder. There's a lot of highs and lows, a lot of things that build your resilience. - But these action sports brings in that whole element of kind of danger, and... - Yeah. - You know, there's a level of grit, a level of determination that you just don't experience if you were doing something else. He comes into the heelside. Approach, goes up. (ALL EXCLAIM) - Gidday, mate. - Hey, brother. - So good to see ya. - You too. - Gidday, Cory. - Hey, mate. - How are you, buddy? - It is so good to see you. - Bailyn. - Oh, Bailyn. You little legend. How are ya, mate? I mean, I just got a puppy, and that's one thing, but, like, to raise a little human... - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah, it's wild. - I mean, it's been so long since I've actually done any wakeboard commentating. It's been a massive day. - Catching the old crew. - Oh, dude. - See Russ and... - Yeah, I did not think Russie would be coming along. - Dude, that is still gonna take me some adjusting ` seeing Chris holding a baby. (CHUCKLES) - # Maybe we're OK. # - I think the reason it's been 10 years ` I don't think I would've been able to do it. Early on, I just kind of had to find myself again, I guess, and there was a lot of healing that I had to go through. - Your 2024 under-17 Boys Elite World Champion ` Mac Fort! (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - (WHISTLES) You have my applause as well. - And you have the 2024 Adaptive Sitting Wakepark World Champion, Andrew Hensel! (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - Oh my God. He's drinking a beer out of his` out of his prosthetic. - Yes, Matty! (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) (LAUGHTER) (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - Oh, it was great. - It's gonna be so good tonight. There's gonna be so many people I haven't seen in so long. - Yeah. - NARRATOR: Brad is also hosting the Riders Choice Awards in Surfer's Paradise - So party shirt later, you reckon? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Game change halfway through once things start getting rowdy. Brad's got all the best shoes. At least your socks are always fresh, eh? (LAUGHS) - Usually, unless someone didn't close the catheter bag properly, and then they bloody... - We've had that problem before. - ...drip and then... Yeah, a little bit on the neck. - OK, how's that? - Then maybe just a little mist. - A little... - Beauty. - There we go. - Whoo! - (CHUCKLES) Fresh. (ROCK MUSIC) - Or maybe if you want to do it, or I'm happy to introduce myself and then you start taking the piss out of it. - I feel like if you` if you intro yourself... - Yeah. - Um, and then... and then I'll just throw those couple little bits at it. - # There's nothing to be done. # - How's it going, man? - Good to meet you. - I've really been enjoying watching the riders. Like, yesterday was just ridiculous. - Yeah, it's gnarly. - Was that tantrum, the back lip slide ` oh my God. - Love what you're doing, for, like, the Australia and New Zealand wakeboarding scene. It's super inspirational. Me and my brothers especially, we take a lot of inspiration from you. And, you know, we love to see you out here. - Welcome everybody to the 2023/24 Riders Choice Award. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Yeah. - Yeah. So in 2014, pushing the limits. Going for the double tantrum to blind. I managed to win Trick Of The Year with that one, but unfortunately, uh, my brother and my mate Jeff were the ones to accept that award for me when I ended up in the spinal unit trying to repeat it. I guess I was prepared, or I thought I was prepared, to push the limits in wakeboarding, and I didn't quite know that this would be one of the results of pushing the limits. But I would never deter anyone from going for what you want, pushing it. I think, you know, being 10 years on past my accident, to have that impact, I guess, on the sport still today is pretty cool. (UPBEAT MUSIC) There's a lot of shit that I've been through, but I've learnt so much from it, and to be able to pass that on and give other people that insight without having to go through what I've been through I think is super valuable. If I have to go through those struggles to positively impact others, then it definitely makes it more bearable and even drives me when I'm going through those shit moments. Even if one person in the room leaves with one really key, life-changing message, then that's a huge, huge win. - # No, I # won't be, # I won't be the ghost there beside you. - Turns out I have a pretty decent breath hold. My body doesn't use the same amount of blood flow and oxygen as everyone else's does. - # I won't follow. - Before my injury, I was on top of the water most of the time. Now I'm beneath it. The fact that I've been somewhat trapped in a wheelchair for 10 years and I had to overcome that feeling of constantly wanting to escape, allows me to sit at the bottom of that pool when I'm freediving and know that all I have control of is to nod my head like, 'Yeah, I'm OK,' or, 'Nah, get me out of here.' - # I won't be the ghost there beside you. - I'm in control of my life again. I know that I've gone through some struggles. We're all flawed; we're all damaged. But to know that you are enough exactly as you are