Less than a year ago Bondi lifeguard Quinn Darragh was lying in bed after a liver transplant, tubes hanging off him and with a goal of merely getting out of bed and standing up.
That small step led to a much bigger vow.
After more than 12 hours in the water, the lifeguard, more used to pulling swimmers out of trouble spots, was himself hauled out of the Sydney beach.
Darragh entered the water at 8am on Tuesday in a bid to boost awareness for organ donation and raise funds for Ocean Heroes, an organisation that provides surfing lessons for neurodivergent children.
Swimming between north and south Bondi, Darragh undertook to swim non-stop for 24 hours. “No rest. No breaks. Just open ocean.”
Organisers told Bondi Beach News that if he succeeded, Darragh would be creating a record never before achieved in Australia: “A continuous 24-hour ocean swim. For a man still well within his first year post transplant, deciding to take on such a physical challenge speaks to the resolve that carried him through recovery.”
While he didn’t make the 24 hours, Darragh managed more laps of the iconic beach than any other attempt recorded. By swimming 64 laps, he left the previous 63-lap record in his wake.
“I sort of got pulled out,” Darragh told 2GB on Wednesday morning.
“I had no idea how many laps I’d done at that stage but I was zig-zagging on the second last lap, and then on the final lap … it was just uncontrolled vomiting.”
After battling bluebottle stings and a dropping temperature, Darragh knew it was the beginning of the end.
“I did ask myself, ‘Could I take another stroke?’ and I asked myself that a few times in the laps previously.”
In a video by Etienne Calmelet to support Ocean Heroes, Darragh said he was 12 when he first got sick with symptoms of Crohn’s disease.
Then in 2024, he got much worse and was diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease called Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC).
He had a liver transplant in April last year.
Following the surgery, his body initially rejected the donor organ, causing complications and delays.
After the operation, “with tubes hanging out of me”, he said he had set little goals.
“The first was, get out of bed, and stand up. The second goal was walk to the beginning of the ward. And then I got back in the ocean which is what I love so much. The ocean heals you in so many ways. And I decided I would have a crack at 24 hours of Bondi doing laps.”
Darragh’s attempt has raised more than $33,000 for Ocean Heroes.
Despite falling short of his 24-hour goal, Darragh told 2GB the swim had achieved his main goals of raising the funds and awareness for organ donation and transplants.
“I was really fortunate enough to receive one after seven weeks, and what I realised throughout that whole journey was that there’s a huge gap between people on the registry and people who need a liver.
“I really wanted to, I guess, pay it forward because of how much it meant to my family and I, getting a much-needed transplant,” Darragh told 2GB.
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