Australian surfing legend Mark ‘Richo’ Richardson has spoken out about the ordeal that almost ended his life while on holiday in Bali.
Richardson was rushed to the intensive care unit at Siloam Hospital in Kuta, on the Indonesian island, last September after an infection and severe blood loss.
The four-time Australian Surfing Championship winner suffered internal bleeding after contracting an infection.
Their condition deteriorated rapidly when friends and family launched a public appeal for urgent donations of type A blood, so they could receive much-needed transfusions.
Surfing legend Mark Richardson (pictured in hospital) has revealed how he almost died in Bali last year after contracting an infection while on holiday.
Nine months later, Richardson recalled that he was hours away from taking his last breath as medical specialists fought to save his life.
“Things got pretty bleak for a while,” he told Gold Coast Newsletter.
“I lived practically day by day and then hour by hour.
“The doctors couldn’t really understand what was happening.”
The World Surf League coach spent ten days in hospital as doctors attempted to repair a hole that had opened up in one of his arteries.
It was caused by insects that managed to enter his body and attack an ulcer, which are sores that appear on the lining of the stomach.
Their vital organs began to fail and they relied on other parts of their body to replenish them.
The four-time Australian Surfing Championships winner (pictured) feared the worst as doctors raced to fix a hole that opened up in one of his arteries.
Richardson was in a critical condition when he was medically evacuated from Bali to Darwin after Siloam Hospital refused to accept overseas blood donations.
“They ran out of blood in Bali and there was a 12-hour period where I didn’t get any blood and I was right on the verge of death,” he said.
Paramedics from LifeFlight, an air medical service that flew Richardson back to Australia for emergency treatment, feared he would not make it through the flight.
Richardson spent three weeks in a Darwin hospital, undergoing multiple surgeries before returning home to the Gold Coast.
After a slow and steady road to recovery, he is now back in the gym.
Richardson also returned to training, which he credited with helping him recover from this ordeal.
Richardson (pictured) had to be medically evacuated after Siloam hospital ran out of blood and refused to accept blood donations from abroad.
He’s not sure if he’ll ever regain his 100 percent health.
But Richardson is grateful to be alive and owes his life to the generous blood donations made by members of the local surfing community, who rushed to help save his life.
TO GoFundMe The page created at the time raised more than $46,000 to help cover the costs of Richardson’s medical treatment and flight home.
Richardson is a recognized figure in Australian surfing and won a gold medal in the Masters Division at the ISA World Masters Surfing Championships in 2011.
Following his successful surfing career, he became a coach and mentors several rising stars, including Australians Liam O’Brien, Callum Robson and Isabella Nichols.