{"id":401951,"date":"2024-06-11T13:04:20","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T13:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=401951"},"modified":"2024-06-11T14:05:09","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T14:05:09","slug":"emotion-overflows-as-miracle-woman-books-paris-ticket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=401951","title":{"rendered":"Emotion overflows as miracle woman books Paris ticket"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alexa Leary suffered such a traumatic brain injury\ufeff that a titanium plate, a shunt and special clips are required to keep her head together and working.<\/p>\n

But at the Australian Paris 2024<\/a> swimming trials on Tuesday night, some three years after a horrific bike accident<\/a>, the 22-year-old secured her ticket for her debut Paralympic Games<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Sunshine Coast product tore through the women's multi-class 50m freestyle in 27.89 seconds, winning the race and nailing the Paralympic entry standard of 28.27.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Rapid time, five words strike fear into champ's chasers\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

ULTIMATE GUIDE:<\/strong> Everything you need to know about the Australian swimming trials<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

WATCH: <\/strong>Aussie's unfathomable gold that shocked the world\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Her dogged attitude and vivacious personality were palpable as she celebrated the swim at Brisbane Aquatic Centre. Eyeballing the timing board, she pumped a first, before chatting to Nine's Giaan Rooney in a poolside interview overflowing with elation.<\/p>\n

"Yeah, Lex, woo!" Leary beamed.<\/p>\n

"I've actually come so far. I'm so impressed I'm even in the water. I'm like, 'Yeah, Lex,\ufeff you've come so far'."<\/p>\n

\"Alexa<\/p>\n

Talking to Nine's Roz Kelly in the stands, Leary's dad choked back tears.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"It's unbelievable. To think that we had six months in hospital, never meant to walk or talk again, and she's off to the Paralympics," Russ said.<\/p>\n

"We got a different daughter back," said mum Belinda.<\/p>\n

"I love her personality. She's funny, she's crazy, but most importantly \ufeffshe's fulfilling her dreams and what she wanted to do prior … She always wanted to go to the Olympics. That was her thing, always."<\/p>\n

Gazing down at his daughter from the stands, Russ had a beautiful message.<\/p>\n

"You're a bloody legend," he said.<\/p>\n

"Honey, we love you," her mum added.<\/p>\n

"We're so proud of you … and I just can't wait to see how you go [in Paris]."<\/p>\n

\"Alexa<\/p>\n

Leary is eternally grateful for her parents.<\/p>\n

"I would say they are the reason why I am here because they stuck by my side for six months in that hospital and never let go of me," she said.<\/p>\n

Watch Australia's Paris 2024 swimming trials on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

On a bike ride just outside Noosa one Saturday morning in July 2021, Leary's front wheel clipped a bike in front of her.<\/p>\n

She crashed at about 70km\/h.<\/p>\n

Her dad, who had been close behind on his own bike, arrived at a hellish scene.<\/p>\n

His daughter was unconscious. Blood was everywhere. Her ribs, skull, scapula and leg were broken. And she had a punctured lung.<\/p>\n

\"Aussie<\/p>\n

As she lay in a Brisbane hospital bed later that day, her parents were told to say goodbye to her. It was the first of eight times they would say goodbye.<\/p>\n

That night, not able to breathe on her own, she underwent lifesaving surgery. She was going to die unless she had part of her scalp removed.<\/p>\n

The surgery was a success, but the following night she suffered a major blood clot. Medication could have saved her, but it also could have killed her. The following night, she had a fever. The complications went on.<\/p>\n

After 111 days in hospital, Leary, 19 at the time, returned home.<\/p>\n

There's a remarkable video on Instagram<\/a> of two physiotherapists guiding her across a hospital room. There's another person pushing a wheelchair behind her, in case she needs to take a break. She's wearing a rugby league headgear and has a cord hanging from her nose.<\/p>\n

\"Alexa<\/p>\n

Leary has permanent brain damage and weakness down the right side of her body.\ufeff She has memory problems and struggles with her emotions.<\/p>\n

The shunt in her brain is a tube that runs to her stomach, draining fluid as it builds up. The special clips hold various parts of her detached scalp in place.<\/p>\n

At the World Para Swimming Championships in Manchester last August, she won the women's 100m freestyle S9.<\/p>\n

In Sydney in May, she clocked \ufeff59.37 seconds to break her own world record.<\/p>\n

"I'm so excited," Leary said on Tuesday night of the Paris Games.<\/p>\n

"It's the crepes for me!"\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexa Leary suffered such a traumatic brain injury\ufeff that a titanium plate, a shunt and special clips are required to keep her head together and […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":401953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401951"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=401951"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":401958,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401951\/revisions\/401958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/401953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=401951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=401951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=401951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}