- April 24, 2024
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Ormond Beach resident Amber Jeckovich remembers the waves on Aug. 9, 2018.
The waves were small, but it was a beautiful day, she recalled. It was also the 12th anniversary of her grandmother's death. Jeckovich was 10 years old when her 47-year-old grandmother died from cancer in 2006.
"She said she wanted to be as light as a butterfly, and so when she did pass away, we saw butterflies everywhere," Jeckovich said. "Yellow ones, specifically."
Now at 22, Jeckovich was in the middle of her 365-day surfing challenge. On that day, there were two yellow butterflies near her on the water the entire time she was there.
What started out as a New Year's resolution to both help her progress in her surfing and challenge herself soon turned into an opportunity to make a difference for a cause that struck close to home. Her initial goal was to catch a wave every day in 2018, regardless of whether she was sick, tired, traveling or even if a hurricane passed through the area.
It wasn't until a few months later that she decided to "surf for a cause." And she knew what organization she wanted to help.
In 2016, during her time working at Pure Life Surf School, she helped teach a group of 40 people how to surf in Daytona Beach. They were with First Descents, an organization that helps young adults with cancer have outdoor adventures with the hope to empower them "beyond their diagnosis."
It's there she met a woman, who went by the nickname "Slip Stitch". Teaching her how to surf was special, Jeckovich said. Slip Stitch told her she had been scared at first, but that Jecovich made her feel comfortable enough to enjoy it.
On April 10, 2018 — the 100th day of her surfing challenge — Jeckovich started a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $541. That would help First Descents provide meals for an entire group attending a local surf camp.
She said she believed that was a realistic goal; One that she could reach by donating money herself if she wasn't able to meet it at the end of the year.
“Now I knew I couldn’t stop, no matter what," Jeckovich said.
And she didn't.
Jeckovich caught at least one wave every day in 2018, even when she was traveling. She visited California, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Barbados and Martinique, and she made sure she packed her surfboard. On the days she was traveling, she made sure to either go surfing before her flight or as soon as she arrived at her destination.
It wasn't always easy.
In July, she came the closest to almost missing a day. Jeckovich's flight left too early from California for her to surf beforehand, but since her plane was scheduled to land in Florida at 5 p.m. that day, she figured she had plenty of time to surf after she arrived.
But, during her layover in Texas, Jeckovich's next flight was delayed for three hours. By the time she got to Ormond, it was after 10 p.m. She said she ran to the Granada Beach approach and caught a wave in the darkness.
“That was definitely the most high-anxiety day I had that [I thought] ‘oh my god, I’m going to miss my wave,'" she said.
In the earlier days of her challenge, she also caught a few waves while the water was almost 40 degrees. Jeckovich said she'd get an "ice cream headache" anytime she went under. It wasn't unusual for her to be the only one surfing those days.
As the days passed, Jeckovich met her GoFundMe goal, and continued to surpass it. She spent the last few days of her challenge in Martinique. The night before day 365, Jeckovich went to sleep having raised $823.
She woke up on the final day to see an anonymous donation of $177, making the total exactly $1,000.
"I was super stoked that I made it," Jeckovich said.
She went out on the beach and braved the 8-foot waves of the Caribbean island. In the end, Jeckovich surfed for 371 days straight, a feat she describes as a one-time-only "incredible experience."
Then, Jeckovich received grave news on Thursday, Jan. 16. Her friend, Slip Stitch, had died the night before.
There were days that Jeckovich didn't want to go out on the water. There were times she was sick, tired, busy or juggling her multiple jobs and school work. But what kept her on track was thinking back to those who are battling, or battled cancer, like her grandmother and Slip Stitch.
“They don’t want to be dealing with cancer," Jeckovich said. "They don’t want to be dealing with it, but they have to and they’re doing it.”
