Mornings are the hardest – waking up, realizing that he can't just get out of bed, there are more steps he needs to take to start the day.
But then, Lucas Arsenault realizes that he shouldn't have lived.
Half a year ago, a 27-year-old professional kiteboarder from the Acadian community of Mont Carmel, PEI was attacked by a shark while snorkeling in the Caribbean. His right leg was amputated. Arsenault thought he would never get back on the board, but through positivity and drive he is doing what he loves again.
It was supposed to be a quick trip in late May to Turks and Caicos, where Arsenault once taught kiteboarding, where he swam and surfed hundreds of times.
It was there, about a kilometer from the north coast, that something hit him in the chest.
“I got really smoked in the ribs,” he said, thinking the boat had hit him.
“But then I turned around and I saw this shark's face.”
'My foot was a cookie'
Arsenault estimates that it was two to three meters long. The shark grabbed his right knee and began tossing him around under the water. She couldn't hear the loud noise.
“I could feel it just tearing the skin, and the force of the bite was so strong that I could hear the bones shattering immediately,” he said. “My feet were kooky.”
He remembers thinking: “Oh my god, I'm 27, life's over. It's over.”
Arsenault tried to punch the shark, and tried to open its mouth, to no avail.
Fortunately, this brought him back to the surface, so he was able to catch his breath before being pulled back down again.
“That's when I had a clear vision of him,” he said. “I saw the eye. And that's what allowed me to get out because I was able to hit his eyeball.
“He left as soon as I upset him.”
'last moment'
Arsenault said the attack lasted about 30 seconds but felt like an hour. Still running on adrenaline, he managed three or four big strokes to swim to the boat, where his girlfriend acted quickly by tying a makeshift tourniquet around his leg.
“It was traumatic,” Jori McIsaac said. “When he was in the water … everybody felt the most helpless. When we got him back in the boat … you could do anything.”
Among the group of six was Arsenault's father. He remembers looking at his family, horrified and thinking these were his “last moments”.
“I'm wondering, 'How does this work? Is this a moment? Do I pass out? I want to go easy,'” he said.
But he did not lose consciousness. He concentrated on his breathing, taking one look at his feet, he knew there was no saving.
Back on shore, a doctor was tending to his boat. He also had an oxygen tank and an appropriate tourniquet. This was a turning point for Arsenault.
“He was very confident and his voice was calm,” he said. “Once he gave me that confidence, my mind changed. (dying) was no longer an option for me.”
Life without a right leg
Arsenault can't explain how he remembers these details so clearly — from the attack to the nine-hour surgery in which doctors amputated his right leg above the knee, and repaired tendon and nerve damage in the rest of his limbs as he tried to open them. Shark mouth.
“I remember opening my eyes and, fighting for (my) life for so long, I couldn't even move a finger. Everything was maxed out,” he said.
He immediately felt his phantom leg. His whole body was shaking with pain. His head is swimming with uncertainty and questions about how he will live this new life.
Those were “dark times,” he said. “It's impossible to stop your mind from thinking about all the consequences. Will I ever be able to drive again? How am I going to go to the bathroom at night?”
After three blood transfusions, Arsenault was stabilized enough to be flown to Toronto where he was cared for at St. Michael's Hospital for 23 days. He was never alone there, always MacIsaac, and friends and family members who visited.
That support continued through his recovery – the kiting and PEI communities held online fundraisers, and breweries sold beers named in his honor.
'I'm a few pounds lighter'
During a recent workout at a gym in Summerside, PEI, Arsenault was doing pull-ups to remove his prosthetic leg, bending it over a squat rack.
“Pull-ups are better because I'm a few pounds lighter,” he joked.
Throughout his day, he sprinkles humor and positivity.
“I wasn't supposed to live through this,” he said. “If you're going to face a 1,000 pound tiger shark and you come out like I came out you're very happy in the end.”
With that mindset, Arsenault made rapid progress, although he was careful not to set goals. Instead, he listened to his body. His only objective was to play a round of golf before the summer ended.
His first few weeks were spent in a wheelchair, then he graduated to a walker, and finally crutches. Finally, after 10 weeks, he took those first tentative steps with a prosthetic leg holding parallel bars.
Then, on to the bigger challenges. Through hundreds of hours of rehabilitation, slowly building up his strength and, at times, pushing his limits, Arsenault found a way to be active again.
In the summer, he played his first round of golf.
And, in early September — a moment he thought might never happen — he went kiteboarding again.
“Just gratitude. Just happiness,” he said of his feelings at the time. “Just an overwhelming wave of emotions.”
Arsenault says the moment was not planned, the wind conditions were fine and he was feeling good. He remembered how to ride a board, how to fly a kite, but said it was “bittersweet.”
“Things are different when it sits in your stomach,” he said. “I won't be what I used to be, but I can do it.”
Although he tired quickly, the experience lit a fire in him, inspiring him to push himself to become stronger. Since then, he has managed to ride his bike on the road and swim in the pool.
Along with this, he is working with his prosthetics team.
“For Lucas, the goals will be how far can we go to get him back to his former life?” said Todd Waite, a prosthetist-orthotist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown. “He's not going to walk 10 steps. He probably wants to walk 10K.”
Waite says he was “shocked” when Arsenault first sent him a video of Keating.
“It's extraordinary.”
Slowly, Arsenault is adapting to his new normal. He cut the right leg out of his wetsuit to fit his prosthetic leg. He is evaluating his boards to see which ones work best. He also has different legs for different activities.
For him, all these steps represent a new beginning, one punctuated with a visit to Turks and Caicos.
In November, she and her family traveled there to find peace and make new memories. He also proposed to McIsaac, who is now his fiance.
“Going back was a bit emotional, but much better than expected,” he said.
While he may or may not go snorkeling for a while, he says he has no regrets about that day.
“I've lost so much physically that I don't want to lose more in my life. I still have a lot to do.”
