Flynn McKay
**this information is subject to change and growth as flynn grows alongside the group and other characters**
tw serious accidents, serious injury, and recovery
Flynn has been obsessed with the water since he was a kid. He joined the swim team by kindergarten and was always begging for beach trips with boogie boarding and later, surfing. He did alright in school, but his grades were never close to his brother Jack’s. Comments from teachers, particularly the ones that were also sports coaches about following in his brother’s footsteps were common, but for the most part Flynn let them roll off of his back. He looked up to his brother and was proud of his accomplishments, but nobody would be able to pressure Flynn to be anything that he didn’t want to be.
Their parents were very hands off, which left Jack to be the person he looked up to most, though they did butt heads from time to time like most siblings. While Flynn has been friendly and relaxed, the privileged status of having well off parents still shaped him to be rather ignorant of the struggles that other family’s faced and he could at times come off a little pretentious, especially in his younger years. He made friends pretty easily and a group of them earlier on in his childhood encouraged him toward his prankster phase. One that ended with tricking Jack into eating a cinnamon covered pickle, one of the family’s stories that gets passed around far too frequently.
Upon high school graduation with some money from his parents, he moved to the Gold Coast in Australia to pursue his dream of becoming a pro surfer. He got a job at one of the local surf shops and spent most of the rest of his time out on the water. With the ability to be out on the waves every day rather than sporadic car trips to the coast, Flynn started to catch on rather quickly. A fast learner and a natural talent, he joined in on amateur competitions and started to build his social media presence. He was qualifying for worldwide competitions by the age of 21 and had secured some dedicated followers and sponsors as well. By some, he wasn’t taken too seriously because others that broke in at his level started to do so a bit later in life.Â
However, it all came crashing down six months ago when he was sucked into a wave and crashed into a large rock while out with a group of his surfer friends. Knocked unconscious, he doesn’t remember much until the painful ambulance ride to a hospital where the laundry list of issues was discovered. Flynn had a fractured pelvis and femur as well as a few broken ribs and a collapsed lung along with a host of other more minor injuries including organ damage. After stabilization, his parents had him flown to Seattle so they could be there with him over the numerous surgery decisions.
He spent about a month in and out of the surgical floor of the hospital as the teams of surgeons and doctors in the trauma, general surgery, and orthopedics collaborated to repair all of the injuries and subsequent complications, including a brief blood clot scare. He had grown to know the doctors, residents, and nurses of the departments pretty well and agreed to follow up with physical therapy on an outpatient basis when he was released. Flynn had a really hard time adjusting to the loss of independence and the trauma of the accident. Feeling helpless was something he never really thought he would experience and nothing he would ever wish on anybody.
Being back in Seattle and the uncertainty of being able to heal well enough to surf again has been absolute hell for Flynn. Luckily, because he wasn’t in a competition there isn’t any footage of his accident circulating around but some of the critical surfing community did get #mulleringmckay trending on Twitter after word got around that he was going to make a recovery, much to his disdain because he didn’t want to be known for his accident. After spending almost two months in a wheelchair, he was growing tired of using a walker or crutches and frustrated that he felt that he was recovering at a snail’s pace. His determination to get back on the board and unresolved feelings about the situation he found himself in caused him to push his weakened muscles too hard, resulting in a moderate tear in his calf, which ultimately delayed his recovery by another few weeks.Â
Flynn is at physical therapy as often as his insurance will pay for it. His only goal is to get back in shape and get back out to Australia to continue his career, much to his parent’s dismay. While he used to be a pretty relaxed guy, he has found himself pretty irritable, especially when he doesn’t meet the high goals he sets for himself with physical therapy. He has softened a bit to making friends in the area since his recovery seemingly continues to extend without an end in sight, but what this man really needs is some personal therapy to help him realize he has time to heal and return to his career if that’s what he wants to do.
