After breaking his leg earlier this year, Tony Hawk admitted he regrets getting back on his skateboard sooner than he should have.
"I was dreaming when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray: last week I got confirmation of news that I have been dreading for while now: my femur never fully connected at the fracture site (non-union and varus angulation as they say in the biz) and has only grown further apart on one side of my leg. To all of the people saying I got back on my skateboard too soon and was pushing too hard with my early recovery, especially my dear wife: you were absolutely correct," he wrote via Instagram on Monday, November 21, referring to Catherine Goodman.
He continued, "I was too cavalier in my approach to skating shortly after my injury, ignoring all warning signs - pain, mostly - and ended up shifting the bone placement that never allowed it to fuse properly. I don’t blame anybody but myself for this major setback, and I would turn back time if it was a viable option. So I go back in for surgery next week to have my bone repositioned in hopes that it will heal properly this time around. I am thankful to get a 'do-over' of sorts, and hopeful that I can make a fuller recovery this time by having more patience and less expectations. The silver lining to this disappointing news is that I was able to do a lot of skating (and some advanced tricks) without a solid bone to stand on; I should be able to do a lot more with a fully formed femur. It’s gonna be a slow, delicate process in the coming months but I plan to emerge stronger, wiser and more thankful than ever. Swipe to see the irony of the last trick I [re]learned before finding out that I’ll be starting over: a *literal* boneless one."
Of course, fans flocked to the comments section to wish the athlete all the best during this tough time. One person wrote, "You got this Tony!! If you need some wheels during your recovery I got you covered 💚🤘🏼," while another added, "Damn man…. Get better slower this time. 👊🏼😉."
A third person added, "You’ve got this Tony!"
In The 54-year-old retired from professional skateboard in 2003, but in March, he shared the news about his injury.
“Yesterday sucked. I broke my elbow 20 years ago and managed to make a full comeback; this recovery for a broken femur will be much harder because of its severity (and my age). But I’m up for the challenge," he stated. “There is a strange irony that this happened on the eve of HBO releasing a trailer for Until The Wheels Fall Off, Sam Jones’ documentary about my life career, which has a strong focus on the philosophy of how I/we do this at our age. The answer is complicated, but ultimately it’s because I have found my sense of purpose and shaped my identity through skating, and it nourishes my mental health immensely.”
