- April 25, 2024
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Growing up on the Jersey Shore, surfing and other water sports were a natural way of life for Danny Paltjon.
But when the Horizon West resident suffered a spinal cord injury in 2003, his ability to be in the water — or even on the soft, thick Jersey sands — was extremely limited.
It wasn’t until one day, when some friends of his lifted him into the water and back onto a surfboard, that he rode his first wave post-injury. It’s a feeling he said he’ll never forget, and it’s what sparked the idea for the Oceans of Hope Foundation.
Paltjon and fellow Oceans of Hope Foundation co-founder Chris Sharpe started the organization to offer adaptive ocean access to people with limited mobility. This includes specialized wheelchairs or assistance to enter the sand, as well as customized surfboards and kayaks to empower paraplegics and quadriplegics to safely ride the waves or experience kayaking.
“We provide beach wheelchairs, we modify surfboards to each individual’s needs so we can get those with no mobility out in the water to ride the waves,” Paltjon said. “We’re branching now into kayaking, so we modified a bunch of kayaks with outriggers to stabilize the kayaks so they don’t tip for those people who can’t swim or those who don’t have any trunk muscles. … It all started with the surfing. That’s what was our main sport up until this year.”
The heart of the foundation lies within Paltjon’s own experience. Paltjon always was athletic growing up, and he was a competitive baseball player. Things went wrong during a game in 2003, though, when he slid headfirst into third base and the third baseman landed on his neck. He has been paralyzed ever since and is considered a quadriplegic.
His family, especially his wife and then-infant son, were his inspiration for fighting to recover and get back to his new normal.
“My wife was two months pregnant at the time (of the injury) with my son, and he was my motivation to get out of the hospital bed every day and try to move a finger or a toe and all that stuff,” Paltjon said. “(Years later) we’d still go to the beach, and it was heartbreaking (with) me on the boardwalk watching and my wife and the family down there playing with him. I couldn’t participate.”
After years of frustration, Paltjon had had enough of missing out on these moments with his family. A few friends helped get him into the water by picking him up, and for the first time since the injury, he was back in his element.
“I was able to hop back on the surfboard and ride it, and it was like the best day ever,” he said. “Just tasting the water, being buoyant in the ocean, it was a day that I will never forget. … When I looked up, I saw my wife crying and my in-laws crying, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Man, what are you guys crying about? I’m the one that just had the best time!’ But it was the first time that I realized my injury affected so many people — my loved ones — just as it affected me.”
Having experienced a life-changing moment like that, Paltjon was determined to do what he could to help others with similar injuries experience the thrill of freedom in the water again, too.
When he visited New Smyrna Beach, the hard-packed sand, which allowed him to drive both his car and his wheelchair on the beach, presented a whole new freedom.
“At the time, I had a then-3-year-old daughter that I was able to play with — sandcastles, digging, being able to roll right down to the water and get out of the chair and swim in the ocean myself,” he said. “To me, that was the greatest moment as far as after injury — being able to have the beach back.”
It’s what spurred him to meet Sharpe — also an avid surfer — and the two discussed bringing the Oceans of Hope Foundation to life in 2014.
“We had training; we had nights where we met at local surf club out in New Smyrna Beach, and I remember the first training we had was a PowerPoint presentation on how to do transfers, how to talk to someone with a disability, all these things,” he said. “I remember telling the people there, ‘You’re going to change lives of so many people out there in that water, as far as participants go.’
“After our second event, one of the volunteers came up to me and was like, ‘I remember you saying this is going to change the lives of the participants,’” Paltjon said. “‘Well, I’ll tell you what: This event changed my life.’”
The first event Oceans of Hope hosted involved bringing people from a rehabilitation center in Winter Park to New Smyrna Beach, where the foundation provided meals and hotel rooms as participants enjoyed a weekend of assisted surfing. They had 12 volunteers at the time; during the most recent Oceans of Hope event, there were 230.
The foundation can accommodate various types of injuries and levels of ability. There are participants who broke their necks and cannot move anything, so volunteers will pick them up out of a wheelchair and work together to position them safely on the surfboard in the sand.
There are foam wedges volunteers slide under the participants’ chests to keep their heads upright, and mounted foam noodles along the surfboard act as bumpers to prevent the participants’ arms or legs from sliding off.
In the water, up to 16 volunteers are stationed every few feet to assist with keeping a participant on the right path. Other volunteers help get the rider positioned to take a wave. Every precaution necessary is taken to make it work. To have six surfers out in the water at a time, Paltjon said, there could be up to 100 volunteers out there with them.
The foundation has changed many lives for the better, but it’s also changed Paltjon’s.
“I’ve learned so much, I’ve done so much more, it’s just brought out a better me,” he said of his injury and everything that has come since. “I was more blessed that it happened to me than it didn’t. … The foundation gave me a motivation, a drive.”
“There’s so many people willing to help,” he said. “Our volunteer staff has just been fantastic. … If one person can benefit from this, that’s fantastic in my eyes. It’s always about that one person — if we can change the life of one person, that would be fantastic.”
