Imagine this: going to sleep with 20/20 vision and waking up the next morning in complete darkness. This is what happened to Zac Adair on the morning of May 7, 2004, about a month after his 29th birthday. While riding his bike home one evening, Zac, an avid surfer from North Carolina, was hit from behind by a drunk driver. On life support for a week with his cervical spine broken in four places, Zac woke up without paralysis, and all bodily functions in tack. Six months after leaving the hospital, his optic nerve collapsed and Zac woke up without his vision.
Thankfully this story doesn’t end as tragic as it began for Zac. Through courage and a strength that many of us might never have to dig deep for, Zac Adair is truly a comeback kid. He’s now back on his board, wearing a rash guard that reads, “Blind Surfer”.
On the land, Zac’s guided by his seeing eye dog “Alfred”, a gorgeous white lab who’s as sharp as a GPS system. On the ocean, Zac’s guided by his fiancée Celine Russo, an avid surfer who’s ironically trained in Wilderness Therapy, a program at Prescott College that Zac is currently getting his Masters Degree from. (And of course all you MSGs out there know and love our one and only Celine!)
