In mid-2018, it was the story that captivated the world. The Wild Boar soccer team - made up of 12 boys and their coach - were trapped deep inside the Tham Luang cave in Thailand for 18 days after a flash flood saw them unable to escape.
They were eventually rescued, with two men at the centre of the rescue who were both Australians: Dr Richard Harris and Craig Challen.
Both called on for their medical expertise - Richard is an anaesthetist and Craig and veterinary surgeon - and cave diving knowledge, a rare combination of talents that made them vital to the rescue effort.
Their role in the rescue saw them named joint Australian of the Year, and they’ve now released a book together titled Against All Odds.
However, their journey to heroism was not an easy one.
Harris told Andrew Dickens that when he was brought in to help, everyone thought that the boys would have already died. When the boys were then found, the doubts remained. "There was no way to help them escape."
Rescuers Craig Challen and Dr Richard 'harry' Harris were named Australians of the Year. Photo / AAP
He says that panic was one of the main concerns due to how long the dive would be to get the boys through the water.
"Panic in that environment is certain death, not just for the boys but for the divers as well."
Harris was then asked to sedate the boys, which he was initially negative about the plan.
"My initial response was 'look, that's impossible. You can't render someone unconscious and then push them underwater for three hours and expect them to be alive at the end of it."
His attitude to the plan did not change until the final boy was rescued, which he says is not a bad way to be.
He only agreed to go ahead with the plan because the other options fell away, and there were only two options: either sedating the boys, or leaving them in the cave to die "very slowly".
"Maybe one or two might survive. It was a very grim choice."
When it came time to rescue them, Harris stayed in the cave where the boys were trapped in order to sedate the boys and dress them in their diving gear.
There was only one occasion where he had to move a boy through the cave. He describes the water like "chocolate milk" as they couldn't see anything. The boys were "packaged up" and "streamlined" to make it easier to move them, with their hands tied behind their backs and their feet bound together.
"Morally, this stuff just feels reprehensible it's hard to describe how you feel doing this stuff to an unconscious child."
One of the hardest things Harris had to do was leave every night, leaving the boys to their fate. He says he knew that if there was another heavy rain, the cave would flood again and no one would be able to get to them.
"I felt like I was alright, I was going back to my hotel, and leaving these kids to their death."
When the final boy was rescued, Harris' initial joy was dampened when he spoke to his wife and learnt that his father had died that afternoon. He says he has never been on "such an emotional rollercoaster", but his father had a cancer diagnosis so his death was a blessed relief.
Asked if his father knew his son was being a hero, Harris says that he does not like to use the word, and that he and his colleagues find the whole situation "acutely embarrassing".
"I've worked in the emergency services a fair bit and you just do your job. We knew this was different and unusual, but it did feel like we were just doing a job. These kids I looked at as patients in a way."
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