Eighteen months since losing his hand and leg to a shark attack in Sydney Harbour, Paul de Gelder has now returned to his beloved job as a navy diver.
With bionic hand and prosthetic leg, the 32-year-old is jumping back in the water after an intense rehabilitation.
"It was really long and really hard to get to this point and a lot of pain but with good support I'm so stoked to be in there," he told Nine News.
De Gelder was testing equipment in Sydney Harbour near Woolloomooloo early one morning in February 2009 when in an instant a bull shark mauled one of his hands and a leg.
His new job is training would-be elite divers for the Australian Navy.
When asked if he fears returning to the same waters, he says: "I don't even think about it, not at all. It doesn't cross my mind. I just love being in there."
And the prosthetic doesn't hold him back in the water either. "It's obviously not as mobile as a normal leg but it does the job. It doesn't stop me from doing anything," he said.
He credits his training in both the Army and Navy for teaching him the discipline and mental strength that aided his recovery.
"I think that that really matured me, it brought me a long way and it gave me the discipline to put pain to the back of my mind and get on the job," he said.
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