Fly-in-fly-out worker Scott Race was dumped by a wave at Secret Harbour, hit a sandbank and broke his neck.
The 39-year-old also damaged his spinal cord and his C6 and C7 vertebrae.
His partner Peta Byrne leapt into action, fought to pull him from the water before two strangers waded out to help.
“Scott (was) floating,” Byrne said.
“I thought ‘oh no, he must just be mucking around’я╗┐.
“я╗┐I pulled him up and he does a big gasp of air and he’s like ‘I can’t move, I can’t move'”.я╗┐
Byrne said it was a scary moment and Race “thought heя╗┐ was going to die”.
“He’s been our protector, our provider, our everything to our family and then to see him like that it’s so hard,” Byrne said.
Race faces a long road to recovery and is set to spend up to 18 months at a rehabilitation centre.
The family is sharing Scott’s story to warn others to take extra care in the water.
“Just in a split second your whole world can change and get turned upside down – look at us this is our world,” Byrne said.
