The line started screaming as we rushed to the back of the boat to reel in this monster of a fish. I grabbed the rod and strapped into the reel, preparing myself for the fight that was upon me. The line was as loud as a jet engine, screaming as the fish started swimming in the opposite direction.

“Holy cow!” I yelled as I tried to control the rod. At this point, the fish had total control of me and it had me pressed up against the gunnel of Peter’s forty-one-foot boat. “What do you think we have hooked?”

“I don’t know,” replied Peter. “But whatever it is, it’s massive.”

To think that twenty-four hours ago we were back in Boston is crazy. Now, Peter and I are in the Bahamas competing in one of the biggest fishing tournaments in the world. It took a bit of convincing on my part to get Peter to come with me on this trip. Eventually, he agreed, though. Who could he say no to this anyway? Fishing in some of the most pristine conditions in the world. Instead of catching the common Blue Fish or Striped Bass with the occasional Bluefin Tuna or Bonita; we get to fish for all different kinds of species that most people have never even heard of. Another reason why no one would ever turn down the opportunity to participate in this fishing tournament is the prize. One million dollars for the winning team to split. This would mean that if Peter and I were to win we would each get five hundred grand. That money could help my family and I so much because I have to send my two kids through college and this prize money would take care of almost all of that. Peter would probably use his money to buy him and his wife a new house or pay off their cars or something. Or maybe save it for if they do have kids down the road. I don’t know. There are so many good ways to spend it. I snapped back into reality when I heard Peter hollering my name.

“John! John! I’m reversing the boat. Start reeling in,” he explained.

“He’s taking too much line!” I replied. At that moment I could clearly see that the fish that I had on the line was like nothing I had ever seen before. Maybe even the championship fish for the tournament. I tightened the drag and started the long fight of reeling it in.

“Peter! Start reversing it!” I yelled over the drowning sound of the four engines. The boat lurched backward and I started turning the reel faster than I ever had before. 

“Pete, stop the boat, we are good,” I hollered. The fish seemed like it had just given up. Clearly, I was wrong about that. Right as I thought I had him and almost had brought him up to the boat, he made another run and started taking out the line again. This time, Peter and I were ready and tightened the drag once again and started reversing. Since the fish was already tired we easily brought him up to the side of the boat and put a tail rope around.

“Finally!” I exclaimed to Peter right as we slipped the tail rope around the rigid tail of the fish we had just captured. 

“This swordfish is massive!” Peter remarked gazing in awe at the fish that was currently tied to the side of the boat.

“I can’t believe it is still fighting,” I said as the swordfish thrashed violently against the side of the boat.

“Let’s bring him in John,” Peter said.

I went to open the door on the side of the boat and grabbed the tail rope. I handed the tail rope to John and then proceeded to try to guide the fish into the fish door of the boat. This was quite difficult because the fish probably weighed around 200 hundred pounds. Right as Peter and I picked up the fish, me holding the tail and Peter grabbing the fishes long sword, the fish made one last-ditch effort to escape us. As it started to squirm in our arms, Peter’s hand slipped and the swordfish's sword plunged right into my right thigh. I looked down at my thigh and back up at Peter.

“Peter, what happened?” I asked.

“We need to go! Now!” Peter exclaimed racing to go turn on the engines.

I kept looking back down at the fish that was currently stuck in my leg and it hadn’t really sunk in yet that the fish was stuck in my leg. 

“This is one big fish,” I explained to Peter.

“John, you’re in shock. We need to get you to a hospital right away,” Peter answered. As he was explaining that to me he grabbed a large filet knife from his tackle box and sliced the sword right off of the fish. The slight movement of the sword in my leg immediately snapped me back to reality and I realized right away what was going on. 

“Oh my god, Pete!” I screamed. “It's all the way through my leg!”

“I know, that’s why we have to go right now.”

My vision became fuzzy and white and I started to sweat profusely.

“The weather is starting to change!” Peter yelled over the wind that had just started to pick up.

“This is the perfect storm,” I thought to myself. At this point, Peter had already carried me down to the cabin of the boat that was located under the center console and set me on the bed. He wrapped right above the wound with a bunch of blankets. He said it was to limit the bleeding or something like that but I don’t really remember much. I do remember that we started cruising at a constant sixty miles per hour to get to the nearest port. The port was in Nassau which was about twenty miles away from where we originally caught the fish. I must have passed out from the pain and I awoke to the crashing of the boat going over some big, rolling waves.

“What the heck was that?” I asked Peter in an alarmed voice.

“Nothing. We are almost there,” he said. 

He must have been talking about the port. I looked down at my leg and noticed that the blood was still pouring out. Since I was in a more stable mental state, I started thinking about all the possible outcomes of the injury. We kept crashing through the waves as I started to think. One outcome that I came up with was death. “If I die, who will tell my family that I love them?” I thought to myself. “Peter! Tell my family that I love them if I die!” I yelled up.

“You’re not going to die!” he responded. “We are 10 minutes away from the port. Try to stop the bleeding.”

As I tied more blankets and towels around the wound I heard Peter on the radio.

“I need an ambulance at dock D at Nassau right now. I have a friend on board the boat that is suffering from a from a swordfish impalement wound. He has lost a lot of blood but is stable as of right now.”

This was comforting to hear but at the same time, it was very disturbing. It showed that Peter cared about me and that he was trying his very hardest to keep me alive, but it also made me very anxious because the injury was apparently ‘life-threatening”. I must have passed out again, most likely from blood loss. I woke up to paramedics slipping a backboard under my body and applying more bandages to my leg. They rushed me out of the boat and into the ambulance. When we got to the hospital I was put onto the gurney. To me, there seemed to be hundreds of people tending to me, but it was really only six or seven people. As I was being rushed to the operating room, I looked over to Peter and thanked him.

“Thank you, Peter. For everything. If I don’t make it out of this surgery, I appreciate everything you have done for me. Please take care of my family for me.” With that, I was rushed through the double swinging doors into the bright operating lights of the operating room. 

I awoke the next morning to an itchy, tingling sensation on my right leg. I went to itch but instead of hitting my leg, I hit the sheets. I sat up and started freaking out.

“What happened? Where’s my leg!” I screamed. I looked to my left and saw Peter trying to control me and explain to me what happened. The nurse rushed in and injected something into my IV tube and instantly I calmed. Peter then explained to me what happened to me. I was instantly rushed with mixed emotions. I was thankful for everything Peter had done to help me, but I also didn’t know what to do about my whole situation. I would have to do everything differently with only one leg now, which is going to be hard enough on its own. I also started thinking about all the money that we could have won with that fish and instead of making an insane amount of money, I am losing a lot of money on hospital bills. That was the least of my concerns, though. As long as I am alive and around the people that I love, I am happy.

“I appreciate everything that you did for me, Peter,” I said as I fell asleep once again.