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FRC's Curtis Fleming Shares Story of New Zealand Accident that Could Have Ended Fly Fishing Career

By Julie Perine on July 01, 2018 via Connect-Bridgeport.com

The life of a “Reality Fly Fishing” personality tends to be very public, but host of Fly Rod Chronicles and Bridgeport resident Curtis Fleming chose to keep one episode private – until now. 
 
While shooting for FRC in New Zealand, Fleming took a 30-yard fall along a rocky cliffside; an incident that could have cost him his life. What did result were snapped tendons in both elbows; a condition which merited two surgeries and many months of healing. Coming to the end of his recovery time, Fleming has been given a clean bill of health. Not only are both elbows working at 100 percent capacity, but thanks to skill of the surgeons and hardware utilized, he said his cast is even improved. 
 
Fleming said not going public with the December 2016 accident had nothing to do with being dishonest with his viewers. 
 
“The reason I’ve downplayed this is because my job is to tell fishing stories, a metaphor for exaggerating,” he said. 
 
Rather than tell a story that might be perceived as hype, he chose to keep it completely quiet. He said he also didn’t want pity nor did he want his sponsors to lose faith in his ability to deliver virtual fly fishing excursions around the globe. 
 
Though he has been healing for the past several months, he continued – against doctors’ orders – to film shows. But those shows featured a slight twist to the past 14 seasons. He filmed episodes featuring his family of fly fisherwomen – wife Shelly and daughters Laken and Autumn - and incorporated other guests quite adequate with skill, requiring little instruction and example. 
 
In hindsight, that twist on Fly Rod Chronicles made him a better host, Fleming said, taking a backseat to others in front of the camera. 
Eighteen months after the New Zealand incident took place, Fleming is sharing details. He’s grateful for his recovery – thankful to God, his family, his doctors and therapists. He also said the incident could have been a lot worse had it not been for divine intervention. 
 
It was a warm, windy late-December day in New Zealand when Fleming and crew – as they had for two subsequent mornings – traveled by helicopter to virgin waterways to throw their lines. But on this particular morning, winds were strong. After the helicopter set Fleming down in some rocky mountain terrain – kind of like Seneca Rocks - to get to the actual fishing spot. A huge gust of wind came through, the ground gave way and Fleming took a fall.
 
“The earth below me was not sound, I fell 30 yards straight down with sharp, jagged rocks below,” Fleming said. “And I’m telling you, God stuck one tree out or I would have fallen more like 80 yards.”
 
While free falling through the air, Fleming saw the tree and grabbed it with both arms, thus the snapped tendons in both elbows. A guide and camera man who made their way to Fleming were able assist him out of the tree and get him to the bottom of the hill. 
 
“I just sat there in the river with my elbows laying in the water,” he said. “It took about four hours before we could get the helicopter back.”
During that time, Fleming suspected his injuries were serious. There was instant swelling and the tendon in his right arm had balled up. Once the helicopter took him back to the lodge, he took some photos of his elbows and sent them back to Bridgeport – to his family physician, Dr. Kelly Nelson, and orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Matthew Darmelio. Both confirmed his suspicions and advised him to cut the excursion short and get medical care. 
 
“When I found out how bad it was, all that went through my mind was August of 1983 when I snapped my achilles tendon during my senior year of basketball and my basketball career ended,” he said. 
Fleming didn’t immediately return home to the states. 
 
“We fished for two more days, then we had a couple of missed flights,” he said. “It took us 58 hours to get home and with two snapped tendons, all I could do is eat Tylenol and Motrin.”
 
Once finally home, Fleming’s friend VJ Baldini recommended Dr. Bradley, orthopedic doctor for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Fleming’s own physicians put their stamp of approval on the plan and Fleming soon thereafter traveled to Pittsburgh for initial MRIs. Again, suspicions were confirmed and it was decided that because the fly fisherman is right-handed, the right elbow was priority. Surgery was scheduled and Fleming was told he would face a six- to 12-month recovery time. 
 
“A surgery that should have lasted 30 minutes went five hours,” Fleming said. “they had to reattach the biceps and attach the forearm and everything.”
 
After wearing a cast for 32 days, Fleming transitioned into a “bionic” cast and was released for physical therapy. Neighbors Mark and Kelli Pinti worked with him on a regular basis. He said he decided from the get-go, he would never skimp on repetitions, and in fact, would always do one extra. Laken and Autumn stepped up and made appearances for their dad, including the ICAST sportfishing trade show – the largest in the world – held in Orlando, Fla. 
 
Plans were made to shoot eight FRC episodes, all completed long before Fleming was released by doctors in October to return to “light fishing.” He admits the fishing was quite painful and said FRC editors and producers can testify as they had to bleep out many comments made during casts. But the show went on, including trips to Costa Rica where Fleming broke a world record on a sailfish. Just five days before surgery to repair his left elbow, he broke another world record, this time in Virginia. 
 
He admits he went a little crazy on the fly fishing. The thought crossed his mind more than once that he might have to give it up altogether. Just as he would have played a lot of extra basketball had he known his athletic career would come to such a drastic halt 35 years ago, he wanted to get his line in the water as much as possible. 
 
The second surgery took place this past spring, again with an anticipated recovery time of six to 12 months. But with a second series of aggressive physical therapy and positive attitude, that recovery time was cut to just three months. 
 
It’s yet another chapter behind him. 
 
“I’ve been bucked off a horse, thrown out of a boat and had two shoulder surgeries and four knee surgeries. This one was scary,” he said.
 
“But I put it in God’s hands and decided I was going to give it everything I had and was going to come back as strong as I could.”
 
Taking a step back left Fleming even hungrier for his passion to fly fish. He feels he has a new lease on life and said he’ll no longer take for granted his travels nor the scenery and experiences they bring. 
 
With stainless steel pins and screws now inserted, his casting arm is in superhero shape so he virtually has a new elbow, too. 
 
Everything must happen for a reason. Had it not been for this chapter of his life, he likely would not have become so tight with members of the Steelers – or be about to film episodes of the Fly Rod Chronicles with Alejandro Villaneuva and David DeCastro. 
 
Read more about Fly Rod Chronicles at the FRC Web site HERE
 



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