‘I am happy with who I am’: What Alex Noble did next

A teenage rugby star in the making, Alex Noble saw his future changed after a tackle left him with life-altering injuries. Now, he reveals how he came back stronger than ever.

Imagine if everything you had ever known in life was taken from you in an instant. How would you react? What would be the first thing you would say? Alex Noble’s response to such a sudden, shocking accident ended up inspiring the world.

On October 21, 2018, on a Sunday morning in Sydney, a then 16-year-old Noble was tackled while training in the Under-17 NSW Rugby Sevens youth selection squad.

That tackle broke Noble’s neck and damaged his spinal cord, which forced him into an induced coma for four days.

In the moment he came to, Noble tells Stellar, he felt as though he was in a coffin. “I was completely imprisoned and pressed down on the bed by all these machines and tubes that were keeping me alive,” he says.

“I was on the bed, unable to move a single thing except my eyes.”

‘If I fight, you fight.’ Alex Noble has shared his incredible story of resilience in the latest issue of Stellar. Picture: Daniel Nadel for Stellar

But he could still hear. While his parents, Glen and Kylie, and his older brother, Zac, sat at the end of his bed holding vigil, Zac told them he was considering forgoing his final exams at high school.

“Listening in on the conversation, I kind of felt guilty that what had happened to me might be the cause of Zac giving up on his future,” recalls Noble, who was still unaware at the time that he had become a person with quadriplegia.

“Somewhere deep within me, I used as much strength as I had, and in a mumbled tone I interrupted the conversation and said: ‘Zac, if I fight, you fight.’

“In that moment, I chose not to let my circumstance define me, nor let my injury define who I am and what the rest of my life was going to consist of. I chose to fight. And I did it to motivate Zac.”

Noble used that mantra to make it through 22 days in the spinal unit at Royal North Shore Hospital, followed by 239 days at Royal Rehab in Ryde, the experience he details in his new memoir, aptly titled I Fight, You Fight. Still, although he said “yes” right away when offered the chance to write his autobiography, the process of recounting his story wasn’t easy.

“Immediately after my accident, one of my main goals was not to be imprisoned by my past,” he explains.

‘I’m happy with who I am now.’ Picture: Daniel Nadel for Stellar

“I knew thinking about everything I’d lost or what I once had would completely destroy me. But in order to share my mindset, I needed to go back there. What I’ve realised is that life isn’t determined by what you have or what circumstances you’re in. The way you feel depends on the way you think and perceive your situation. I see so many people who have absolutely everything anyone could ask for. There are so many people who have so much more than me, like good health, but are also so much sadder than me.”

Which is not to say Noble is a saint. He admits that before that fateful tackle, he was selfish in pursuing a rugby career and having a raging social life, and that the accident didn’t miraculously wipe his slate clean.

“I don’t have bad days, I have bad moments,” he says. “Sh*t hits the fan all the time. Every day I face unfair, difficult, annoying situations where things go completely wrong. I just make sure that as soon as I possibly can, I gain control back over my mind.”

Noble has used that same dogged determination he had before his accident to help him achieve remarkable things since – from the seemingly simple, like holding a spoon to feed himself and using a computer, to the outright extraordinary, like completing his HSC, studying law and economics at university, jumping out of a plane, travelling the globe and starting his own business.

See the full shoot with Alex Noble inside Stellar, out today. Picture: Stellar

While Noble’s story has touched many celebrities – including Delta Goodrem, Hugh Jackman and NRL Hall of Famer Laurie Daley – for Kylie Gillies, co-host of Seven Network’s The Morning Show, the connection was personal. Gillies became close to Glen and Kylie after her eldest son, Gus, met Alex in kindergarten, and through that bond she has helped Glen organise fundraisers in support of spinal injury research and treatments.

Gillies was also one of many friends and family members who provided meals to the Noble family when Alex was in hospital, and she has now written the foreword to Noble’s book – although she admits she was scared to read it at first.

‘One of my goals was … finding love, which I have.’ Alex Noble has revealed some happy personal news. Picture: Instagram

“I was worried it would make me sad,” Gillies tells Stellar.

“I’ve been a spectator of what has unfolded in Alex’s life over the last six years and I didn’t know if I wanted to revisit it. But seeing it in black and white and on the page, and how he’s dealt with everything, is remarkable. I was already amazed by everything he’s done but I’m even more proud of him now.”

For Noble, reaching a recent bucket-list goal has been especially sweet.

The 22-year-old is dating one of his former support workers, whom he asked out on New Year’s Eve.

“An overarching goal of mine is to share my mindset and impact on this world long after I’m gone – my legacy has given me purpose and meaning in my life,” he says. “But another one of my goals was something quite humble and simple, but also very beautiful and powerful, like finding love, which I have.”

Despite everything he has endured, today Noble is in a good place.

“Having a good mindset and finding a purpose in life and knowing your identity is way more important than being healthy and well, and having a mindset that is superficial, materialistic and very shallow like mine was before the accident,” he says.

“I’m 100 per cent certain that if God came to me and asked, ‘Do you wanna get back to who you were?’ I would say, ‘No. I’m happy with who I am now.’”

I Fight, You Fight by Alex Noble (Simon & Schuster, $34.99) is out on Wednesday. Read the full interview with Alex Noble inside Stellar today. And for more from Stellar, click here.

Originally published as ‘I am happy with who I am’: What Alex Noble did next