Swimming legend Dawn Fraser ‘up walking but not out of woods’ after horror fall at home
Dawn Fraser is up walking again but “not out of the woods” just days after the swimming legend sustained serious injuries after a fall on her Sunshine Coast driveway, her daughter has revealed.
QLD News
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Swimming legend Dawn Fraser is on the road to recovery after a fall on the driveway of her Sunshine Coast home left her with serious injuries.
The 87-year-old, who lives at Noosa, suffered injuries including broken ribs and a fractured hip after a fall.
Fraser’s daughter Dawn-Lorraine Fraser today said there were initial fears that her mum had sustained internal bleeding.
“Mum is doing so much better, she is typical mum. She is up walking and as you know was told to slow down, because she was walking too fast,” Ms Fraser said.
“She has had a new hip, broken four ribs and has a gash in her left arm.”
Ms Fraser said the ordeal was incredibly scary.
“It’s been scary, it was scary I thought we were going to lose her and I was told by the doctor that we were probably going to have to face that and I couldn’t face that,” she said.
“Because even though she’s my mum I’ve always thought of her as being invincible.”
Ms Fraser said her mum had caught her foot on an unfinished driveway lip which triggered the fall.
“When she felt herself go she’s obviously taken a gouge out of her hand from the house and she’s covered her face, to save her face from her eye, and so she’s obviously landed straight down on her hip and her ribs,” she said.
“I’m assuming she broke her fall with that, thankfully she didn’t move forward a bit because the pot that there is quite a big pot and it would have killed her.”
Ms Fraser said her mother had her phone on her and rang friends of the family to come help.
Ms Fraser said she was unsure how long the swimming legend would remain in hospital as she was still being monitored for blood loss.
Fraser will do rehabilitation at home.
The morning of the surgery Ms Fraser revealed she was asked by the doctor over the phone if the procedure did not go to plan if he wanted to resuscitate her.
“I said, are you serious? Are you asking me this question? Do you not know my mother?,” she said.
“That’s the worst question someone could ask you when you’re not ready for it, and I said, yes, you will resuscitate her, my mother’s a fighter and you will make sure that you do everything to save her.
“I woke Jackson and I said, we have to go to the hospital now, I don’t think Grandma’s going to survive, and it just broke him because that’s his grandma and they have the most amazing bond.”
Ms Fraser said she received calls from members of the sporting community, as well as strangers and went on to thank the community for the love and support.
Fraser is one of the greatest athletes Australia has produced, having been the face of the Melbourne 1956 Olympics where she won two golds in the 100m freestyle and 4x100m free.
She would go on to win the 100m freestyle gold at the Rome 1960 and Tokyo 1964 Olympics as well.
She also broke and held 27 world records during her career — including lowering the 100m women’s freestyle world record from 1:04.5 when she first broke it at the Australian Championships in 1956, to 58.9 seconds the 11th and final time she lowered the mark.
Originally published as Swimming legend Dawn Fraser ‘up walking but not out of woods’ after horror fall at home
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