What happened to Nathan on ‘Below Deck Mediterranean’? Medical emergency explained
The latest ‘Below Deck Mediterranean’ Season 11 Episode 9 featured Nathan Gallagher suffering a back injury. It happened while he was lifting and twisting equipment on board along with another crew member, Joe Bradley. The two were inflating and moving water toys for the charter guests. Suddenly, Nathan cried out in pain, “My back’s f****d.” He also dropped the inflatable the two were moving around. In a confessional, Nathan mentioned, “I’m in agony. I’m f*****g 27. I’m already losing my hair. I don’t need to lose my back too for f**k’s sakes.” Captain Sandy learned about the situation after which Nathan told her, “Honestly, I was just lifting stuff, and twisting stuff from the swim platform.”
Further in the episode, while talking to the Captain, Nathan reflected on his previous back issues. “I don’t have a good back anyways. I hurt it in Sydney a few months back, as we were lifting a f*****g generator out of the engine room,” he recalled. At the time, he also got treatment for his back injury. “I was getting help in Sydney for a bulging disk, and (it) was weeks and weeks of going to rehab, and I feel like I just hurt myself again,” added Nathan. He mentioned that it was “absolutely f**ked.” After learning about Nathan’s previous injuries and now his back hurting again, Captain Sandy was concerned.
Earlier, fans saw deckhand Luke Brumer leave after a conflict with Nathan. As a result, the crew was already a deckhand short. To fulfill deckhand duties, Captain Sandy had assigned Aesha, Chief Stew, duties of a deckhand for the charter. Seeing how Nathan got injured raised Captain Sandy’s concerns even more. She told Nathan to get his back checked and fixed before he could continue his duties. “If you want to continue working, you need to get fixed first. Otherwise, you’re going to make it so bad where you can’t work anymore,” said the Captain.
Despite Nathan’s refusal, she witnessed that he was in a lot of pain. In addition, when he hurt his back before, he did not get it treated properly, which was quite a concern for the Captain. “You’ve never had an MRI or anything? You need to get one, Nathan. Think about your body. Like, you can barely move,” pointed out Captain Sandy. She then arranged for Nathan to go to the hospital and get his back injury checked properly. Witnessing how she might not even have another crew member, Captain Sandy faced a difficult situation. In a confessional, she expressed her concerns, “This charter, man. I didn’t want to go into this without four deckhands. But it’s a liability now to have Nathan on board if we don’t know how bad his back is.”
