Readers Digest NZ Dec/Jan 2025

PHOTO CREDIT: SEAN POLLARD These days, Sean and (his now wife) Claire live in Bunbury WA and are proud parents to their beautiful daughter Mila. Sean has also effec- tively swapped his surfboard for a snowboard, after getting the chance to experience Para Snowboarding at Mt Buller in Victoria in 2015. After qualifying to represent Australia at the 2018Winter Paralympics in South Korea - just four short but remark- able years after his shark attack – he came away with a 5th place finish in the banked slalom and a 9th place in the snowboard cross. Sean is cur- rently in training to qualify and com- pete at the 2026 Winter Paralympic games next year in Cortina Italy and is now considered one of the best para-snow boarders in the world. But over a decade after his life- changing encounter with one of the world’s deadliest creatures, Sean’s life philosophy remains as unique as he is. “I figure (my shark attack) was just one bad day after enjoying over twenty years in the ocean – so that’s a pretty good risk versus reward. I just hope I have at least another 20 ‘lucky’ years ahead.” You can listen to more of Sean’s remarkable story of survival in Epi- sode #131 of the Flying Doctor Podcast and you can find out more about Sean Pollard’s Para Snowboarding adven- tures at seanpollard.com.au. Donations to the Royal Flying Doc- tor Service can be made online at flyingdoctor.org.au/donation/ Seanwith hiswife Claire and daughter Mila. readersdigest.co.nz     29 Drama in Real Life PHOTO CREDIT: SEAN POLLARD After being fitted with a prosthetic aluminiumhook, Sean soon learnt to efficiently manipulate his new ‘limb’, using a cable attached to his left shoulder muscle. Sean immediately impressed his Doctors and family with his stubborn determination to cleverly adapt to a totally different way of life. “Basically, I have a prosthetic that fits onto my stump. So my left arm is gone but I’ve still got probably eight inches of a forearm on my right arm and the socket fits onto that. And at the end of the socket is an aluminium hook that can open and close and which has a neoprene rubber lining on the inside. The hook has a cable attached to it, which runs from the hook up around my back into my left shoulder. So basically, when I pull the cable, it’ll open the hook and when I release the cable, it closes it. “I pretty much had to re-learn how to do everything and each little thing was like a building block to the next. I had to learn how to get dressed, learn how to make food…and I didn’t wear shoes for six months because I hadn’t learned how to put socks on. I was so stubborn! I wouldn’t let any- one else put my shoes on for me and I just wore thongs. Then, after six months of trying different ways, I fig- ured out a way to put my socks on, with just the hook.” Sean has since taken up snowboarding and is training to represent Australia in the 2026Winter Paralympic Games. 28   december 2025/january 2026