40PROFILEADAM SIMS
How do you deal with all those negative thoughts
going through your head and stay positive?
I’d say I was nearly totally naive to the whole episode. Just
those last moments of going in to the hospital were the
hardest. I was actually quite unwell with a cold and slight
temperature, not the best before surgery as it adds all sorts
of complications, I was suddenly under a lot of pressure
from insurance companies. To be quite honest the insurance
companies were assholes! Rather than say fine this is why
you pay for insurance get the surgery done immediately,
they wanted me to travel back to the UK and get on the
NHS waiting list, even after two specialists and the trauma
surgeon for Formula 1 had advised I avoid all unnecessary
movement.
In the end positivity is a part of what drives me. I really learnt
in the past not to sit on negative thoughts, not to be
negatively influenced, be who you want to be and the levels
of stress and worry go down and the levels of enjoyment go
up. Stress less, enjoy more. Simple, right?
Talk us through the treatment you received and
what you had to do as far as rehab goes.
So they removed the spinal disc by cutting open the neck
from the front. They put in a couple gadgets to keep the cut
open, to push my throat and vocal chords to one side and to
avoid the artery that feeds the brain. They then put in a small
piece of plastic called the cage, about a thumbnail size to
replace the disc, from there they injected a fluid to make the
bone grow together and then sealed it all up.
uk
WIND
SURFING
As far as rehab goes, I was aware there was nothing lost in
terms of muscle/ligament function, but obviously took care. I
did literally walk out the hospital the next day and took the
train home to my girlfriend’s place. Then I was already
working on van renovations the next day. Nothing strenuous.
As far as traditional rehab, a six-week programme was what
got me back to action. Some neck exercises to stabilise the
small muscles around the spine.
When did you realise there was light at the end of
the tunnel and you’d be windsurfing again?
I kind of never thought I wouldn’t windsurf, that’s the thing.
The trouble was keeping me off the water soon after. I was
filming the EFPT event in Austria two weeks after the
operation, then again in Tarifa three weeks later. Tarifa was
sick, conditions were on, everyone was on form and I was
super amped to get back on the water. I waited but the
forecast was epic just a few days later.
How was that first session back on the water?
You can’t imagine, that forecast got better and better as the
day approached and I had to go. It was a couple weeks
earlier than planned but the waves were all time, down the
line, side offshore. I stuck to turns and aerials, no tricks, no
special moves, clean pure wave riding. It was just sick!
How long do you think you’ll be able to keep
punishing yourself?
Punishing or pushing, haha! So long as I enjoy it, I will keep
going. I feel like I’m better than ever in terms of my level. I
actually felt really strong at the Canary stages of competition this