Darren Longbottom has been to hell and back since breaking his neck in a freak surfing accident four weeks ago.He endured 20 hours without pain relief after suffering excruciating injuries, was left stranded in a remote village surrounded by chanting islanders, and faced being strapped to the feet of a helicopter for a two-hour mercy flight.But he has weathered the experience with characteristic humour and a tough fighting spirit, providing strength for those around him.Darren's world was changed forever on the morning of May 20 as he and a group of friends joined a surfing charter off the Mentawaii Islands in Indonesia.He was being towed into the waves by a mate on a jet ski. "The swell wasn't that big, only four or five feet. I paddled into a wave, something I'd done a million times before and bailed off the back of a wave," he said. "The last thing I remember is just coming down into the water and at the last minute the board has come down straight underneath me and I basically headbutted the board in half. That's where the injury was done."I hadn't realised what had happened to me. All I could move was my arms and I could only just move my neck. I couldn't talk. I was trying to yell out but nothing was coming out. I was worried that I was going to drown."His mates frantically worked to get him on a sled at the back of the jet ski before winching him on to the boat.Throughout, Darren was suffering agonising pain for which there was no medical relief. "I just kept thinking about my family, just wanting to get to a bloody hospital," he said.They made it to the mainland and had to wait an hour before the chopper arrived, but it was too small to fit Darren's 6ft frame and another two hours was spent trying to figure out how to place him inside.He said the pilot finally suggested they strap him underneath the cabin, to the feet of the chopper. "Eventually they strapped me to my broken surf board, from my neck to my bum and fitted me in by taking the seats out."It was then discovered the chopper had run out of fuel so fuel was drained from the surfing cruiser."After another two-hour flight we ran out of daylight ... and ended up landing in some paddock behind a soccer field."There was a soccer game going on and about 500 Indos ... chanting at me, doing all sorts of weird stuff."That went on for about two hours. It was probably the scariest part of the whole bloody day."Finally, a local ambulance arrived and took him to Panang airport, only to find it closed. It was another two hours before an ambulance with doctors from Singapore arrived. "That's the first time I felt safe, I felt like I was going to make it," Darren said.He was operated on in Singapore, where doctors established he had broken his C6 and C7 vertebrae. The vertebrae was realigned then fused together. Darren's wife Aimee, 30, and parents Ross and Pam were there waiting after the surgery. "I just said we're here. We love you. You're not alone'," Aimee said.Within days, however, Darren's lungs collapsed and filled with fluid, and he was on the verge of pneumonia.Gradually, he improved and within 21/2 weeks he was given approval to fly back to Australia and was admitted to the spinal unit of Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital."They give you two years but I don't look too far into the future," Darren said. "I wake up in the morning and check if I have any more movement. At the moment I'm just trying to build up my strength."Today he has mobility in his neck and arms, but no movement so far in his hands and from the armpits down.Aimee said she was confident her husband of four years, with whom she has a 15-month-old daughter Bowie, would achieve his goals."When he wants something badly, he'll do it whether it's his surfing or soccer (he plays for Gerringong in the over 35s)," she said.In the interim, the community support continues. A fundraiser to be held at Shellharbour Workers Club next month has been sold out, with hundreds of raffle prizes from throughout Australia being donated."It's been a very humbling experience," Darren said. "It's all hard to believe, you know. I'm just Dazza who owns a surf shop."We've been dealt a card from the bottom of the pack and we just have to play with that."