Injured Kitesurfer Recovering Slowly

A kitesurfing com¬petitor, French man, Jerome Bila, injured his back during the Speed Challenge 2009.
The accident oc¬curred once he’d finished his run on the speed strip, when his kite lines got tangled with another competitor’s. Fortunately the other person involved was not injured. He went to hospital in Johannes¬burg for an operation on one of his vertebrae in the first week of December. They inserted some titanium to repair his broken vertebrae.
His condition was serious but thankfully the operation was a success and he was able to fly back to France two weeks later. He is currently undergoing phys¬iotherapy, and is progressing slowly but surely and hopes to be back on the water soon.•