Emma Lobb, 54, Shailer Park, Qld, shares her story below…
My husband spelled out words on my palm with his fingers.
I’m so lucky to do life with you, he wrote.
We’d been married for seven years and he still liked to write endearing words to me every day.
Stephen, 49, was deaf from birth.
He’d learnt to lip read, and could hear certain sounds with hearing aids.
When he wasn’t at his work as a cabinetmaker, he loved riding his mountain bike, bushwalking and surfing.
He never let his disability stop him from living life to the full.
In February 2020, my mum, Sandy, 77, came to visit.
Read more: My surfboat marathon win was so close – then disaster struck!
One afternoon, Stephen went out mountain biking for a few hours.
Mum and I were in the kitchen chatting when I received a phone call from a social worker at the Gold Coast University Hospital.
“Your husband has been in a car accident,” she said urgently.
Mum and I jumped in the car immediately.
“I have this terrible feeling that life is about to change,” I said to Mum.
At the hospital, we weren’t allowed to see him as he was in surgery.
Doctors told us that his ute had slid on the freeway due to heavy rain, and he’d crashed into a light pole and a guardrail.
The vehicle’s engine had crushed his legs.
“His lower limbs were amputated on the scene to save his life,” a doctor said.
“No,” I sobbed.
“It’s not fair.”
Mum rocked me back and forth like a baby.
After a marathon operation to stabilise him, Stephen was placed in ICU.
When I was permitted to see him, he was in a coma and had big bandages on his legs.
I sat by his side for 12 hours before he finally woke up.
“Am I going to die?” he asked, delirious from the painkillers.
I assured him he would make it.
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Next he pointed at one leg.
The look in his eyes told me he knew it was no longer there.
Then he gestured to the other leg.
“No, babe,” I whispered.
He nodded in blunt acceptance.
Over the next few days, Stephen underwent six skin graft operations.
Once it was over, he smiled at me.
“Do you remember how you crashed?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“I’m just happy to be alive,” he said. “I won’t give up.”
A week later, he was transferred to a ward.
I decorated his room with pictures of him surfing and riding to give him hope.
Eventually, he got into a wheelchair and began zooming around the ward.
His playful personality was returning and he began making funny faces and teasing me.
“We’ve never seen such a positive person,” our nurse, Matt, marvelled.
Being born deaf, Stephen was an expert at dealing with difficulty.
After five weeks, he was allowed to go home.
He had to learn to sit up, and get in and out of the wheelchair.
Some days, he got frustrated.
“I want my legs back,” he lamented.
But next minute, he’d find a solution.
“Maybe I can use my knees more,” he said.
A month later, he was in the ocean with a carer to try knee surfing.
The carer pushed him onto a wave as he kept his weight centred.
“This is worth living for,” he beamed afterwards.
The achievements kept on coming.
In August 2020, he got his first carbon fibre legs and learnt to walk in them.
They hurt, but he pushed past the pain.
He also got his adjusted driving licence using a car with hand controls.
Any time there was heavy rain, he pulled over.
In September 2021, he went back to work one day a week.
His colleagues were in awe of his persevering spirit.
“It’s hard to complain when you see Stephen at work,” his boss remarked.
In 2022, he even took up rowing.
At first, balancing was hard.
He’d fall out a lot and would have to swim back to shore.
“I can do this,” he’d say, before trying again.
Before long, he was winning medals in canoeing competitions.
In April this year, he participated in the Canoe Marathon Championships in Canberra.
Now Stephen is back spending his weekends doing the things he loves – hiking, paddleboarding, and even cycling with a motorised bike.
No matter what life throws at Stephen, he somehow finds a way to smile through it.
And that’s why my husband is my hero.
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