VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The name of today's event at the Virginia Beach oceanfront is fitting. "They will surf again." It seems simple on it's face, definitive and self assured. For Raul Pernites, the notion was anything but.
"I broke my neck at 19 and didn't surf for almost 20 years, I envied my friends, hearing their surf stories," says Pernites, reflecting on the incident that took one of his passions.
Twenty year later, he decided to control the impossible. "So I bought a board, and my two friends pushed me on my first wave after 20 years," he says. That ride convinced to call Jesse Billauer, founder of Life Rolls On, the organization that sponsors "They Will Surf Again" events all over the country.
In 2008, Pernites led the first event in Virginia Beach, featuring 9 surfers and 20 volunteers. They've since grown to 50 surfers and 200 volunteers on the sand at 2nd street this afternoon.
The event helps people with paralysis get out on the water and ride a wave or two. Pernites wants each and every participant to know that they define their own impossible.
"You know, the possibility of being able to get on a surf board, I had a family today say "I never thought my daughter would ever do this," and he thanked me because she had never smiled the way she smiled today.