Ben Cryan

In January 2011, Ben Cryan was in every respect a typical 31 year old Australian.

Growing up in North Queensland, Ben graduated from the University of Queensland with Honors in Civil Engineering. During his 20s, he did what all young people dream of doing: travelling the world, working, and surfing.

In January 2010, his life was on the rise. He landed a major engineering contract under his own business, bought his first home near the beach in Port Melbourne and found a great girl. Life in his eyes didn’t get much better.

In the weeks ahead, Ben’s outlook on life changed dramatically. Prior to starting his new role, he booked a life-long dream holiday surfing a popular break in Micronesia. On the last wave of the day a devastating surfing accident left him fighting for his life in a small-island hospital.

Over two years, he suffered severe coral blood poisoning, failing organs, emergency evacuations, 33 operations, two strokes and a kidney transplant with his mother. After all of that, he faced one of his biggest challenges… learning to settle back into a normal life.

Ben’s story will leave you with a new appreciation for life and will allow you to reset your own life compass. His positive attitude, personality and contagious smile will leave everyone wanting more. There is something in this story for everyone!

Hit by a tidal wave of trauma (Herald Sun, January 7, 2012)