Olympic triathlon silver medalist Hayden Wilde is using an oxygen tank to speed up his recovery after a horror crash left him with career-threatening injuries and an operation scar which he admits makes it look like he has been eaten by a shark.
The 27-year-old New Zealander is facing up to the prospect of a 15-week recovery programme as he bids to make a return to racing by the end of this year.
Speaking on the first episode of his YouTube VLOG, where he intends to chart his battle back to fitness, the runner-up at last year’s Paris Games explained how the process had already begun only a few days post-surgery.
Wilde had just competed in a 10K race in Tokyo when he was hit by a truck while cycling. Unable to get the operation he needed in Japan, he was flown back to Belgium where surgeons spent five hours treating him.
Hayden Wilde rehab latest
“After an epic night and getting a 10KPB, about 12 hours later, I was involved in a bike crash with a truck, and unfortunately, put the rest of my season to a halt with a punctured lung, six broken ribs, and a pretty messed up scapula on my left side,” he said.
“We were in a bit of a situation where it was essentially a career-threatening set of injuries. I couldn’t get the surgery within two weeks in Japan, so we had to get a medical emergency flight to Belgium a week later, which was a pretty big process to go through, but thankfully, we got there in the end.
“The operation was a successful one, but obviously it was a long process, five hours of operating, and now I’m facing a 12 to 15-week rehabilitation programme. For me, it’s all very new. I’ve never had an injury like this before, so it’s a new experience for me but hopefully we can come back out of this stronger and I’m looking forward to getting this left ‘wing’ ready to go, and hopefully being on a start line by the end of the year.”
Hayden’s recovery timetable
Talking through his recovery timetable, Wilde explained that his daily stints in a hyperbaric chamber increases the levels of oxygen that the body can breathe in and speeds up the process. Although he admits it may take some time for the operation scar to heal.
“The scar looks like I’ve been eaten by a shark,” he said.
“They were meant to do a little incision just below the armpit. But when they got me flat on the bed, they decided to change the procedure because they didn’t want to damage the nerves and they opened the skin around my scapula.
“I asked the nurse if she could take a video or a photo? because I actually hadn’t seen it. When I looked at it, I was like, ‘I wasn’t expecting that!!’.
“I’m no scientist, but I think your body only produces 70 to 75% of oxygen, but these chambers bring that level up to 95%, so the recovery rate is good. It’s my second time using oxygen therapy, so it seems to be good for scars and recovery.”
With regular physio sessions, treadmill work and even the possibility of returning to bike work in the coming days and weeks, Wilde is already well on the road to fitness, even if there is one aspect of the whole situation which is really starting to bug him.
“Certain movements will hurt, like a touch, but, like, it’s more like when you get super tight and it just feels like all your muscles are really tight, but it doesn’t hurt. It’s just like, it feels like a really deep stretch, I wouldn’t say it’s painful,” he said.
“This is day three, post surgery, and the first day, I could hardly lift my elbow, and now it’s like I can lift quite well.
“The hardest part is not showering for two weeks. It’s the worst. It sucks. All I want is just to get under some water, but can’t because I don’t want to get it infected.”
