Japanese national Haruto Morishita faces uncertain future after freak beach accident at Dee Why

A tourist’s trip of a lifetime Down Under has ended in devastation after he became paralysed from the chest down while diving into a popular ocean pool.

Haruto Morishita faces an uncertain future as he fights for life in intensive care two weeks after a horror accident changed his life in an instant.

The young surfer, 22, who was on a working holiday and living on Sydney‘s northern beaches, suffered severe spinal injuries when he dived into the ocean pool at Dee Why on October 27.

His head hit the bottom of the pool which caused a fracture in one of his vertebrae and severely damaged his spinal cord.

Unable to move his arms or legs, Mr Morishita was rushed to hospital to undergo emergency surgery and placed on life support as his parents made the frantic dash from Japan to be by his bedside.

Two weeks on, he’s off life support and able talk again but still has a lot of difficulty breathing on his own.

Haruto Morishita’s life will never be the same after a freak accident. He pictured hooked up to breathing tubes in ICU at Sydney’s Royal North Share Hospital

He has very limited arm movement and is unable to move his fingers due to the damage to his spinal cord, which is irreparable.

It’s currently unknown how long Mr Morishita will be in hospital for.

Friends who have rallied around the surfer have been told the chances of his body movement returning to what it once was are close to zero.

Despite the daunting road to recovery ahead of him, Mr Morishita remains in good spirits and asked about starting physio as soon as he was able to speak again.

As he isn’t an Australian citizen or permanent resident, his medical costs are only covered by short-stay overseas visitor health insurance. 

‘At this stage, it is too early to know what Haruto’s recovery road would look like. He could be hospitalised for three months or it could be nine months,’ an online fundraiser states.

Originally from Yokohama, Mr Morishita arrived in Sydney for a working holiday earlier this year and had just started working at a cafe in Brookvale when disaster struck.

Haruto Morishita was on a working holiday and enjoying life on Sydney’s northern beaches

Haruto’s life changed forever when he dived into the ocean pool for an evening swim at Dee Why (pictured) on Sydney’s northern beaches

Artist Kentaro Yoshida recalled his shock about his friend’s tragic accident after catching up with Mr Morishita for a beer a week earlier.

‘Haruto is a working holiday maker and currently needs treatment to at the very least become stable enough to return to Japan,’ he posted online.

‘He potentially won’t be able to go back to surfing and skating at his young age of 22.’   

The artist and other friends have rallied around Mr Morishita after his parents returned  to Japan on Wednesday to organise their affairs so they solely focus on his care.

Almost $40,000 has been raised towards future rehabilitation and repatriation costs. 

‘At this stage, we are not sure how much his health insurance will cover for his road to recovery , which we anticipate will be long and expensive,’ the fundraiser added.

‘To add to that, it may take months until his condition stabilises enough to be able to travel back to Japan for further medical attention.’

Friends have rallied around the Japanese national (pictured) who faces a long road to recovery