Miracle surfer missing at sea for 32 hours before being rescued makes ‘remarkable recovery’
Matthew Bryce, 22, finally returns home after being treated for hypothermia and thanked hospital staff for helping through traumatic experience
THE surfer rescued after surviving 32 hours at sea left hospital.
Medics said Matthew Bryce, 22, had made a “remarkable recovery”.
Matthew, of Airdrie, in North Lanarkshire, has been treated for hypothermia after he was found drifting on his surfboard 13 miles off the west coast of Scotland earlier this month.
Matthew praised the medical care he received at the Ulster Hospital in Belfast as he was discharged from the unit.
He thanked the doctors and nurses involved in his treatment, saying "for all the love, care and support shown to me through this particularly traumatic experience".
His parents John and Isabella, who are both nurses, also thanked the public for the many get-well wishes sent to their son.
South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust said: "Matthew Bryce has made a remarkable recovery and has now been treated and discharged from the Ulster Hospital."
Matthew, who has vowed never to surf again, recently told how he thought he was going to die just moments before he was found by a helicopter.
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He was reported missing by his family when he failed to return from a Sunday morning surfing trip in the St Catherines area of Argyll.
He was eventually found by a search and rescue helicopter at around 7.30pm the following day.
In an emotional interview Matthew told BBC News: ''I knew I had maybe three hours and I was pretty certain that I was going to die with that sunset.
''So I was watching the sunset and I'd pretty much made peace with it all and then a helicopter flew right over.
''I jumped off the board and I lifted the board up and I started waving the board in the water and they flew right over, I thought they'd missed me.
''Then they turned round... and then they saved my life. I can't thank them enough.''