*Sam Bloom presents to a 350-strong audience for Clifford Craig’s International Women’s Day Lunch.*

She’s four-time World Para Surfing Champion, mother of three young men and is happiest exploring different cultures across the world with her intrepid photographer husband. Sam Bloom is known best for her best-selling book, Penguin Bloom, and recent Hollywood blockbuster film starring Naomi Watts.

Presenting as guest speaker at our International Women’s Day Lunch on Tuesday, 4 March, Sam reflected her life was close to perfect in 2013 when taking her three boys and husband on their first overseas family holiday to Thailand.

“Honestly, I was only just thinking how unreal life was for us then. The boys were old enough to travel, Cam and I were reconnecting with our old lifestyle exploring different parts of the world. I couldn’t believe my luck when we found this incredible quiet coastal town, leaving the craziness of Phuket behind. Swimming in crystal-clear water and enjoying each other’s company in an exotic location…it was a pinch-me moment for sure. Life was really good,” she said.

Then, the unthinkable happened. Sam was taking a moment atop a lookout leaning against a balustrade rail when it collapsed and she fell from a six-metre height onto concrete tiles below. She was in a critical condition and rushed to hospital; her husband and children all at the traumatic scene of the accident.

Later, in hospital and post-surgery, Sam and her family would learn of her paraplegia spinal cord injury and prognosis she would never walk again.

“I just felt like my life was over. I spun into a deep depression when I returned to our Sydney home. My life was unrecognisable. The house felt so different viewing it from a completely new perspective. I was so angry this had happened to me; someone who loved their life and being so active before the accident. I hated what the accident had done to my husband and children’s lives too. I felt deep shame about how my injury had also changed their lives forever,” she added.

Sam and her family found their avenue for healing through the welcome adoption of injured magpie chick, Penguin. Sam drew parallels between herself and the cheeky magpie who had a way of bringing her focus into the present, with smiles and laughs as Penguin got up to all sorts of mischief around the family home.

Now 12 years on from her life-altering accident, Sam shares her story of reconnecting with her love of the ocean and reshaping how she can enjoy “epic” days in the water with her friends, which to her is the main joy over and above the competition wins she has achieved with world titles as a para surfer.

The 350-strong audience at our International Women’s Day Lunch hosted at Country Club Tasmania appeared to hang onto every word Sam shared during her keynote address.

“Life is a fragile and precious thing. Chase your dreams,” she encouraged.