Following Six Months Of Silence, The Garcia Family Releases An Ambiguous Report On Sunny’s Recovery Status

Comments left on our Instagram and website indicate that many of you have wondered about the current condition of Sunny Garcia, who just over one year ago, was rushed to an Oregon ICU after an undisclosed incident that nearly took his life.

After surviving a lengthy coma, Sunny eventually regained consciousness and underwent daily therapy sessions. 

A September message from his family read: 

A long overdue update on Sunny. We are taking one day at a time and celebrating each little triumph. Sunny is a warrior and fighting every day to get better and stronger. He has said a few words and is now in therapy daily- physical, speech and occupational. The family thanks you for your continued support for Sunny as he continues to heal. It’s going to be a marathon, not a sprint, but we work every day to make sure he is surrounded with love, laughter and ohana.

That was six months ago. Since then, the @prayforsunny Instagram account has not posted anything, and our additional attempts to contact the family through various channels have been largely unsuccessful*.

Today, Sunny’s daughter Kaila posted the first update in a long time on the @prayforsunny page. 

It reads:

Good morning everyone! I know it’s been a long almost 6 months since the last time I posted anything and there is a reason for that. I just wanted to explain briefly why there have been no updates on my dad. First off I just wanted to say how grateful and thankful we are for all of your love and prayers for my dad through these last 10 months! Prayer is SO STRONG and I know it works! GOD is so good and though the pain of what has happened to our dad has been excruciating and unexplainable we know that God has a plan for him. We (my sister and I) have been very hesitant and have to be extremely careful with what we say that pertains to our dad. I have asked one of our attorneys if it was ok to explain why we have not been allowed to update anyone on our dad. He said we could say “Per an order from the court due to a SPECIFIC REQUEST from both my dads guardians” we have been told we (myself, Logan, and stone) are not allowed to give out any information to ANYONE about our dad anymore. And that’s why the updates stopped. I’m sorry it has to be this way because I know there are so many of you who love and care for my dad including those of you who have known my dad for 30-40 + years or longer and are so eager just to know how he is doing. We wish things were different but this is the reality of this situation for now. Thank you all again so much for all your continuous prayers! Please please continue to pray for our dad! #PRAYFORSUNNY #WELOVEYOUDAD

While it’s frustrating that we can’t learn more about Sunny’s recovery progress, it’s safe to assume that his family and caregivers know best. 

We’ll continue to hope for a more comprehensive update someday, but we’ll never forget the impact Sunny had on our broader surfing world. 

*We were, however, able to get the family’s approval for our Sunny-inspired T-shirt, every cent of which will be donated to the Champ’s recovery fund. You can buy one here.