Paul Templer, swallowed by a Hippo, lives to tell the story — Transcript

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1. 0:00it was a perfect day in africa i was
2. 0:02doing what i loved to do running a canoe
3. 0:04safari on the zambezi river
4. 0:07and everything had been going according
5. 0:08to plan
6. 0:09that was right up to the part where one
7. 0:11of the chaps
8. 0:13in one of the canoes i was leading was
9. 0:15hit by a hippopotamus and knocked into
10. 0:17the river my job as the guide was to go
11. 0:20back and rescue him and things were
12. 0:22going pretty well i was leaning over to
13. 0:23grab a hold of him
14. 0:25when this hippo surged up between us and
15. 0:28quite literally plucked me out of my
16. 0:30canoe
17. 0:32so
18. 0:33what took you by your head and shoulders
19. 0:36and what do you remember about that that
20. 0:39moment
21. 0:41very little about that moment tim it
22. 0:42happened so very quickly um the first
23. 0:45thing i knew i was in a deep dank place
24. 0:47with this incredible pressure crashing
25. 0:50down on my lower back
26. 0:51i struggled to break free but with all
27. 0:54the pressure on me it was a pretty
28. 0:56pathetic attempt at first but uh
29. 0:58managing to get one hand free i could
30. 1:00feel the bristles on a hippo snot so
31. 1:02then at least i knew where i was uh
32. 1:04headfirst up to my waist down a hippo's
33. 1:06throat goodness and but and taken into
34. 1:09the water i mean what was it what was it
35. 1:11like i mean one thinks of jonah and the
36. 1:13and the whale but inside a hippopotamus
37. 1:15what is that like stuff down its throat
38. 1:19tim the first part of the attack the
39. 1:21attack took about three and a half
40. 1:22minutes so the first part was pretty
41. 1:25disorientating
42. 1:26um but i got to spend about three and a
43. 1:29half minutes there fortunately my body
44. 1:31slowed down i guess adrenaline kicked in
45. 1:34and as the hippo threw me about and
46. 1:35splashed around
47. 1:38when i was on the surface i would
48. 1:40take a deep breath and suck in air and
49. 1:42then i got to smell uh hippo's breath
50. 1:45rotten eggs tim rotten eggs when we were
51. 1:47under water i would hold my breath
52. 1:50all the while i would try to hold on to
53. 1:52the tusks that bore through me just so
54. 1:54my flesh didn't tear so much as he shook
55. 1:56me all about you you lost an arm though
56. 1:58didn't you uh did that come off
57. 2:00immediately i mean did the hippo take
58. 2:02that
59. 2:04it it was crushed to a pulp um so
60. 2:08i was pretty fortunate when i got to the
61. 2:10nearest hospital about eight hours away
62. 2:12they thought they were taking off both
63. 2:14arms and one of my legs so i was pretty
64. 2:16lucky just to lose one arm the guy who
65. 2:18went in there or whoever went in i mean
66. 2:20what happened to them
67. 2:22unfortunately he didn't face so well he
68. 2:25uh he drowned
69. 2:27so paul i mean you have now become a
70. 2:30motivational speaker
71. 2:32what did what did this
72. 2:33teach you
73. 2:35about your life about what you want to
74. 2:37do i mean something like this which is
75. 2:39so traumatic i mean you know people get
76. 2:41caught up in sort of huge tragedies and
77. 2:44accidents but but you actually
78. 2:45confronted you confronted death with a
79. 2:47wild animal
80. 2:49i did and i was extremely fortunate and
81. 2:52so far as the surgeon who put me back
82. 2:53together again not only did he give me
83. 2:55my body but one day when i was being a
84. 2:58bit of a pain in the neck as a patient
85. 3:00he stood by my bed looked me square in
86. 3:01the eyes and said paul remember this
87. 3:03you're the sum of your choices you're
88. 3:05exactly who what and where you choose to
89. 3:08be in life
90. 3:09at the time i wasn't that impressed but
91. 3:11his message of accountability and living
92. 3:14out of our choices seemed to resonate
93. 3:16and
94. 3:17fortunately i've been able to take that
95. 3:19bad day at the office and use it as a
96. 3:21catalyst to to do quite a lot of good
97. 3:24actually yeah i mean you've you've
98. 3:25written about this haven't you and
99. 3:28what what do you what is your message to
100. 3:30people who who now ask to hear or
101. 3:33recruit you to come and talk to them
102. 3:34maybe in some big organizations
103. 3:38um it should be focusing on the notion
104. 3:39that stuff happens life's going to
105. 3:41happen
106. 3:42it's the old age-old adage of the one
107. 3:45thing often the only thing we have any
108. 3:47choice over is how we respond to
109. 3:49whatever it is that life throws at us
110. 3:53have you been back to the zombies
111. 3:55i have in fact
112. 3:57i led a three-month expedition down the
113. 4:00river the fullest descent of the river
114. 4:02to date a prosthetist made me a kayak
115. 4:04paddle that i could strap onto one arm
116. 4:06and pedal a kayak again do you miss any
117. 4:08hippers
118. 4:10um
119. 4:11i got fairly close but not too close