Watch: Kai Mckenzie in ‘Pay To Play’
“I’m going to fuck shit up with a prosthetic,” the shark attack survivor told Stab.
Kai McKenzie has spent the past two months in a hospital bed in Newcastle, two hours away from his home in Bonny Hills, coming to terms with the fact that he no longer has a right leg.
The assessors of his incident, trained in measuring shark size have since revised their estimate, determining that the white that took his leg was 4.5 meters (~15 feet) long—significantly larger than initially reported.
“It’s been a shit show,” Kai told Stab candidly. “I don’t want to be associated with this forever. I don’t want it to become my whole identity.”
In the course of our conversation, Kai reflected on the life-changing physical and emotional challenges his shark attack caused. His dark sense of humor provided comic relief from what is otherwise a breathtakingly hectic war story.
“I used to build cremators all over the world,” he laughs. “Big pizza ovens for people. We build them on-site. We’ve done some in NZ and Tassie. My boss has a dark sense of humor too, so maybe it comes from there. I met him at the pub after I knocked my teeth out a while ago.”
The “Borg” nickname checks out—a nod to Kai Borg Garcia, the Hawaiian heavyweight and enforcer—he’s tough as two-dollar steak.
“It’s been raw. Some people can’t read a room and can be pretty insensitive. Hopefully, once I get a prosthetic it’ll be different. For now, I’m just cruising around on crutches, so it sticks out like dog balls. Aye if it wasn’t for Eve (girlfriend) and my parents sticking by my side the whole fucking time, my mind would be in a totally different place to what it is now. And for that I’m fucking thankful.”
At the time of calling, Kai had been back in Bonny Hills for two days. After a two-month stint in the hozzy, with endless check-ups and consults with doctors and nursing staff, the ‘comfort of home’ had taken on a new meaning.
“I feel like I can finally put it behind me and start moving forward,” he explains. “The people that have gone through it are the people you need to speak to. I’ve met a couple of people since that have really changed my perspective on everything. I look at their situations and I’m like, ‘Wow, you are this positive and strong. Maybe I’m sweet.’”
Bethany Hamilton, herself a survivor of a shark attack, reached out to Kai unprompted within the first few days of the incident. “That was super inspiring. She just knew what I’d be going through and made the effort out of the blue to connect. She was on holiday and she just said to me, ‘You don’t know what you can do. There hasn’t been anyone who’s lost a leg that can surf like you.’ She just gave me a rundown of the reality of it and changed my whole perspective to stay positive.”
As a side note: when we were making profiles for the Vans Pipe Masters, Hamilton said her biggest peeve is being referred to as “a victim” of a shark attack—something many people fail to recognize as low-hanging fruit.
Kai is understandably cagey about reliving the details of his incident with fresh wounds. Not least because a video of it was leaked while he was still in ICU, by someone who had absolutely no business sharing it. “There’s no respect. That’s all I see it as. If that was your kid, I’m sure you wouldn’t want to see it either,” he surmises.
Despite the overwhelming public attention, Kai has remained grounded thanks to his close circle of friends and the overwhelming support from his community. People from all walks of life—some strangers—have rallied around him. His GoFundMe is close to eclipsing the $200K mark. “I’ve had friends driving seven hours to come see me. I can’t tell you how much that means. You definitely get to see people’s true colors.”
Fundraisers organized by locals, including one that raised an astonishing $70,000 at a small-town surf club, have helped lighten his financial burden. “It’s insane to think how many people care and are willing to help. It’s so cool, and it just adds up,” he said, audibly moved.
Kai is psyched on his future. “I’m just going to fuck shit up with a prosthetic,” he grins, informing us he’s been in talks with experts about getting a prosthetic leg in the next few months. While he’s aware of the challenges ahead, especially with an above-knee prosthetic, which is significantly more complex than below-knee prosthetics, he remains focused on his goal of returning to the water.
The relentless media attention surrounding his shark attack is something Kai wholly wishes to avoid—and no, the irony isn’t lost on us.
Kai couldn’t have been more appreciative of the support he has received thus far. None more so than the man who happened to be walking his puppy at North Wall in Port Macquarie when the incident occurred, and who saved his life with the “best make-shift tourniquet” the paramedics had ever seen, fashioned from a dog leash and a stick.
“He didn’t want to be named or receive any credit for it,” Kai said. “But he came and saw me at the hospital and it was huge. I would 100% not be here if it wasn’t for him,” he pauses. “Or his Dog come to think of it. Thank fuck he had a dog lead,” he laughs.
In the near future, Kai is organizing a fundraiser in Port Macquarie, with local bands like Dumb Punts and Mini Skirt playing to raise more cash. His GoFundMe is still live, and the generosity of strangers continues to lift his spirits. “It just makes you feel like you owe people something, even though I know I don’t. But the kindness, it just blows me away.”
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