A near fatal spinal accident became a 'blessing' for Nick

But over the past few years, the South Coast teacher has come to see his life-changing accident as a blessing that's helped him eke out genuine joy.

"Physically, I don't feel as good as I did before the [2017] accident," he said.

"I don't think I'll ever feel that good and I still have days where I kind of wish it didn't happen. I have felt pain every single day since I had the accident and I hope that does go away.

"But more and more, I'm realising that - as crazy as it sounds, I would never have believed this a few years ago - I'm actually starting to see this as some sort of a positive."

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His horrific accident - where his spine bent backwards over a rock shelf after he was pushed underwater by a huge wave - as well as his recovery and more difficult psychological journey that came after is the subject of a new film being made in Wollongong.

The team of Illawarra filmmakers behind it are fundraising to raise $25,000 through Kickstarter to get the money to continue their project. They are hoping it will be picked up by a streaming service as a two-part special once finished.

The film came about after Wollongong freelance filmmaker Brad Schmidt - who idolised Mr Ormerod growing up "as a young grommit" - introduced himself while surfing at Austinmer's Headlands surf break during COVID lockdowns.

"I could tell looking in his eyes, he was still in a lot of pain, both physically and mentally at that stage," Mr Schmidt said.

"After the second or third time I bumped into him over that year, I was like, 'it's a pretty amazing story and if you did want to do something, someday feel free to reach out'."

Last year, Mr Ormerod finally did.

The accident happened at a remote surf break in South Australia, where he had gone camping with his partner after leaving his professional bodyboarding career behind.

"I still had some sponsorship going on but I was transitioning out of doing it professionally," he said.

"I had just started working as a teacher at the time, and I wasn't being paid to travel anymore, but I was still involved in it."

On the day of the accident he said the surf was "heavy and dangerous" but that he was determined to catch a wave for the benefit of cameras filming him in action.

"I'd been out there a while and I was tired and not really in the right mindset to be in that situation," he said.

"I was making sloppy decisions.. but I thought I've just got to get a wave. I just ignored my instincts.

"It's almost embarrassing to think of it now, to look back on it and think, wow, a big part of the reason I caught that wave is because there were cameras there."

He was was rolled underwater several times and slammed into a ledge, his body folded in half backwards over the rock.

He remembers floating through the water on the edge of passing out, stunned and drifting out into the sea. Far from any medical help, it was 11 hours before he finally reached a hospital, where he was initially diagnosed with several broken ribs and treated from blood loss into his lungs.

"They said 'luckily you haven't got any spinal injuries'," he said.

"So I was being encouraged to walk around in the hospital and move around as much as I could, but I just couldn't do it.

"Then five days later in the hospital, I was having some X-ray checkups and that's when they found out that my spine was severely broken and dislocated."

He was initially told he may not be able to walk, but has had a slow, painful recovery since and can now move well enough to get back into the water enough to "fill my cup".

However, his life is forever changed.

"I guess some changes have been more subtle than others, but a big change is knowing myself," he said.

"Understanding what is important to me, and also understanding the difference between something that brings you joy and is important because life is there to be enjoyed and something that you rely on as a life raft - which is a much unhealthier version of finding joy.

"I feel like I've come closer to that healthy way of finding joy in life."

He now lives in Conjola with his two-year-old son and partner, working as a teacher at a special needs school.

"I now see what happened as a blessing where it's like I've gone through this growth - it's almost hard to put words on it - but it's just knowing myself and how to make a good life for myself and also what my role is in making a good life for my kid and people around me," he said.

Mr Ormerod said reliving his journey in front of a camera had been difficult.

"So many times, I questioned whether I wanted to dig it all back up, but one of the things I've learned through is the importance of sharing stories and learning from each other and trying to add to our collective wisdom to make our lives better," he said.

In recognition of the dark and light in the story, the film is named Fragor, a Latin work which can be either a sudden, loud crash and a low humming sound, or - with a different translation - a strong sweet scent.

Mr Schmidt said most of the filming was finished and the team had made some promising steps towards working with a European streaming network.

However, they are hoping to raise enough funds to spend time on editing and paying people to work on the production, and to seek further funding.

Eventually, they hope to release a 52 minute feature documentary, spilt in two, that shows off the Illawarra and a universally relatable story.

"It's not a surf film by any means, it's far more of a psychological exploration of like the dirty nasty stuff that isn't very easy to talk about, but we all got through it," Mr Schmidt said.

"It should be a really beautiful adaptation of the Illawarra geographically, that shows all the moods that this beautiful stretch of coastline has to offer."