In a freakish accident at Sandy Beach on O‘ahu’s southeast shore, surfer Dylan Melamed, 13, of Hanalei collided with a female body boarder and suffered a fractured skull. Melamed required emergency surgery on Friday, with the trauma and emergency room
In a freakish accident at Sandy Beach on O‘ahu’s southeast shore, surfer Dylan Melamed, 13, of Hanalei collided with a female body boarder and suffered a fractured skull. Melamed required emergency surgery on Friday, with the trauma and emergency room team at Queens Hospital in Honolulu under the guidance of neurosurgeon Dr. Kam performing a successful operation that realigned the fragments while inserting a titanium plate. He may be allowed to return home on Tuesday.
Melamed was on O‘ahu with his sister Mia for training with their coach Turk Cazimero for the upcoming RipCurl and Oakley junior surfing contests set for this weekend at Kewalo Basin on O‘ahu’s South Shore. Both surf meets are warm-ups for the upcoming NSSA and HASA season statewide. Dylan Melamed is considered one of the top contenders this year in the 12-14 and 13-15 year old divisions for national amateur surfing recognition. He competed in San Clemente and Huntington Beach in a national amateur championship earlier this year, placing in the top 12 in each event.
Three weeks ago he was the only competitor to earn three gold medals at the Kalapaki Beach Junior Lifeguard island championships.
He is sponsored by leading surfwear and accessory companies, and by Hanalei Surf Company Surf team. His Kaua‘i coach, Steve Valliere, considers Melamed a star of the future because of his solid approach to training and surfing larger waves.
Melamed may be out of surfing competition for the remainder of the year, but is hoping to wear a surf helmet to return sooner.
