Steve's medical fund

Hello, my name is Paul and I am a long friend of Steve.
Steve recently suffered a catastrophic incident when he was slammed head first into a sand bar from a huge wave. Steve was with his young son enjoying the last of the Easter break at Gunnamatta beach. His son was caught in a rip and was being taken out to sea, when Steve calmly used his board to swim out to him and together he guided them to the side of the rip and back towards the shore. He guided his son onto a wave, who rode it back to shore. Steve was wading back in and was in about waste deep water, when he didn't notice a large wave coming in. The wave drove him, head fir,st into the sand, crushing his spine. He was conscious and knew what had happened as he is an experienced swimmer on surf beaches. He recognised he was in trouble and simply held his breath as he lay face down in the water. Steve was paralysed from the neck down. He told me he counted to 28 and had accepted he was going to drown. Unbelievably, he was saved by off duty beach life guards who were socialising on the beach on watched Steve get swamped. They reacted instinctively and saved Steve's life. They brought him back to the beach, provided life saving techniques and Steve was airlifted to Melbourne's Alfred  hospital. It was diagnosed that although there was no spinal cord damage, his spine was required to fused into a permanent position. He had an initial diagnosis of quadriplegia, but it seems feeling is now returning to his upper body. We are all confident that with Steve's positive attitude, his rehab will produce great results and maybe one day see him back on his feet. The reason we need your help is that Steve is self employed and sole operator of his one man business.  The business will now close immediately and there is no prospect of financial assistance coming to him.  The  public health care system will be getting him back on his feet, but it won't help his wife, or kids get through this tough time. Steve has been a great friend, a great member of our eltham club, a great husband and a great father. He doesn't deserve this and he is taking it like  the great man that he is. He is up beat and thankful to be alive, he gave me a huge hug which touched me to my core. Please chip in and help this great man and his family.