The Comeback

I don’t know Dean well. In fact, I can count the number of conversations I’ve had with him on one hand. When we met for the first time, it was at the SurfShot offices, just getting to know each other really, laying out plans for a prospective interview. My first impression of Dean was that he was not unlike most men. He wants to be happy and someday raise a family; pretty modest expectations from life. And in a word, that’s how I would describe Dean – modest. I’ve met men who’ve accomplished far less and held themselves in a much higher regard than Dean does. Best underground surfer in San Diego, formerly one of the world’s Top 44 surfers, Jersey Shore icon, creator of the Dean Randazzo Cancer foundation, two-time cancer survivor. Very quietly, Dean Randazzo has lived an extraordinary life.
When Dean beat Hodgkin’s for the second time this year, there was no fanfare, no press conference, no announcement on SportsCenter, no commercials or ad campaigns sensationalizing the fact. There was only Dean, the humble victor in what was again quietly a fight for his own life. When I saw him, it hadn’t quite been a month since he was released from the hospital. Though the treatment left him pale and thin, his eyes were soft and his smile warm. As we talked about his recovery and surfing it was clear that the two were inseparable, and the dynamic critical to his road back from cancer. He told me that during his treatment surfing gave him something to live for. Surfing is Dean’s great love in life, and he was so fixed on returning to the water, that he broke doctor’s orders to go surfing only 10 days after his release from the hospital. The action shot you see here is from Dean’s first session back, looks to me like the guy hasn’t missed a beat.