Over a year ago, a major surfing accident put the life of JM Quiblat, a multimedia artist, performer, and surfer, in a critical condition. But miraculously, he pulled through, little by little, with the help and support of his family, friends, and the people who continue to help him get fully recovered.
It was October 4, 2018, just before sundown, he and his friends, Miguel Vasquez, Justin Allen, and Hutch Sabater, decided to surf through the waves of General Nakar in Quezon before calling it a day.
“My friends were starting to go out of the water but, Migs (Vasquez) and I decided to have one last surf. And then, I passed a wave. The tide gain low and big waves came towards me, knocking me off—that is when I lost my consciousness,” recalled Quiblat.
Luckily, Vasquez felt Quiblat’s hair and managed to pull him ashore. For four minutes, he was not breathing. With his faint pulse, his body also turned purple.
But his friends did everything to rescue him. Fortunately, Sabater knows how to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a critical procedure to restore immediate spontaneous blood circulation and breathing.
As he regained his breath, the group took him to the nearby hospital. But the attending physician told them that he needed more stringent attention so, they rushed him to a hospital in Manila.
Breathing a new life
CPR had extended Quiblat’s life, but he wasn’t far from death. He continued to cough blood as he also incurred lung damage from the accident. Seconds after being admitted to the hospital, he fell into a coma and experienced a seizure.
Quiblat suffered from Status Epilepticus, a continuous state of seizure with a very high mortality rate. Most of those who suffer from this condition do not recover because the longer time of the seizure, the heavier it could toll the brain. Because of this he had to be paralyzed by doctors by inducing hypothermia, so his brain would not get further damage.
Anticipated to be up to God, the following hours determined if he would live or hit the bucket. His family prepared for the worst, as the severity of his injuries was already realized.
But then a miracle against overwhelming odds happened—JM Quiblat woke up from coma. His body was too resilient and his pulse kept pumping, enabling him to cling to life.
Recovering from the accident
After few months and a couple of operations, Quiblat woke up from coma and then underwent physical therapies to get fully recovered from the accident.
At first, the sessions were intended to at least get him to move and, somehow, live a normal life. But he showed great progress—standing and balancing were just some of things he immediately achieved after some sessions.
Fortunately he and his mom, Jocelyn, learned about Santé Fitness Lab (SFL), a premier one-stop fitness center offering holistic training programs as well as innovative recovery and sports rehabilitation.
According to Rheysonn Cornilla, Quiblat’s coach and physical therapist at SFL, among the latter’s concerns were his troubles with sudden and vigorous maneuvers. He was missing movement components because of his severe brain injury. Somehow, the trauma made him forget the basics in moving some parts of his body—his legs, in particular, and hopes for athletic activity would be impossible to do.
To solve Quiblat’s motion problems, an intricate program was readied for him so he can be reminded of even the small details lost due to his coma.
“We assessed JM based on his needs, and we tied it up with his goals. He wants to go back surfing but with his current state, it would be impossible,” shared Cornilla.
The coach continued, “To achieve the difficult tasks, we needed to reintegrate him the basic pieces—the little steps that add up to accomplish more complex movements. The program for his goal will teach him to balance himself out, learn how and when to move his feet, and how to correctly shift his weight—these things were lost due to brain injury.”
Since Quiblat’s recovery program is tailor-fit to his needs, every session also entails an evaluation to prepare for the next one. This set up ensure that he slowly regains what he had lost.
For his mom, SFL somehow answered her prayers. “I call them the “Eagle Eye.’ By just looking at JM, they can point out what my son needs to relearn. It is only in SFL that I learned that movement requires particularity—that when you can move normally, you will not realize it since it is all-natural to you. I am grateful for JM’s progress. After three sessions, he can already walk; after the fourth, he started running!” she enthused.
To surf again
Before attending the program at SFL, being able to surf again was impossible. Quiblat almost faced death, and it took more than a miracle to bring him to what he can do now.
He is still undergoing the rehabilitation program, and there is no definite time as to when he will regain all his motor skills. But to surf again is his current goal.
“I’m not a pro surfer. I just love the ocean. As Filipinos, we’re living in an island nation, so I think it’s important for us to have a relationship with the ocean. I couldn’t find enough words to thank God as well as all of the people who got involved in giving me my second life. Soon, with the help of SFL, I will be back in the water, riding the waves,” he declared.
