Eli Hanneman has been in the surf world spotlight since he was 12 years old.
He was a pint-sized punter, hucking and landing full-rotation airs from a young age. But, in the years since then, Hanneman (now 20 years old) has been stepping up his game in other areas, like bigger waves. And in January of 2020, Hanneman wiped out on a big day at Pipeline, sending him to the hospital with a head injury and a punctured pancreas.
Hanneman went on Jamie O’Brien’s podcast to tell the tale:
“I got knocked out on the reef,” he told JOB. “I hit my head on the reef and was knocked out. I was knocked unconscious, but not long enough to drown or die underwater. I’m really blessed that didn’t happen. So, I got knocked out, then came up and another wave was coming. I was completely in shock; I don’t even remember it.
“The second wave hit me, and that’s where everything went south. The head injury was fine; I got staples in my head. But I think I took my rail to my chest area. It punctured my pancreas. That digests all your food. It releases these gnarly toxins to breakdown your food. It’s really protected, so to hit it is really uncommon. They rarely see trauma to it.
“That created a lot of complications with digesting food. They had to go in there and do surgeries on it. It’s really gnarly, because if the toxins get out it can eat away your other organs. It’s like life or death. I was being monitored in the hospital for like two weeks. It felt like I had a knife in my chest and someone was just twisting it.”
Scary stuff.
But today, Hanneman is back to full health.
“It took about eight months to get my health back,” he said. “That wave is serious. And I experienced it firsthand.”
And he doesn’t want the injury to be the only thing he’s known for:
“Not a lot of people really know what happened. I don’t want people to know me as the guy who got hurt at Pipe. I want to be the guy that people go, ‘yeah…he’s gnarly at Pipe.’”
He absolutely is gnarly at Pipe. For more evidence, check out his recent edit (and especially the final few ender waves), entitled North:
***
Don’t miss another headline from SURFER! Subscribe to our newsletter and stay connected with the latest happenings in the world of surfing. We’re always on the lookout for amusing, interesting and engaging surf-related videos to feature on our channels.
Whether you’re a professional surfer or just an amateur, we want to see your best footage and help you share it with the world. Submit your video for a chance to be featured on SURFER and our social channels. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch high-quality surf videos.