Tokyo Paralympics: How footy tackle gone wrong led nurse into rowing

This footballer had already undergone spinal surgery as a teenager so she could play the sport she loved. Then 10 years later, she was being told she “might wake up without a leg.”

They have to be some of the most distressing words anyone could hear just before undergoing surgery.

“You might wake up without a leg.”

But that was the warning given to footballer turned rower Nikki Ayers when she went under for the first of 16 surgeries to save her knee and foot following a freak accident playing rugby.

Former rugby gun Nikki Ayers only started rowing a little over four years ago. Pic: Supplied

“Normally if the blood has been cut off for 10 hours that’s what happens,” said Ayers, who a little more than four years on will be rowing for Australia at the Paralympics.

“When I went in for my first surgery he told me I might wake up without a leg but because I was young and fit they didn’t amputate.”

Ayers had been had been closing in on her dream of playing for the Wallaroos side in 2016 and was a top level sevens player with the Brumbies when she dislocated her knee and permanently damaged her peroneal nerve and popliteal artery in a game.

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Nikki Ayers after the tackle. Pic: Supplied

Ayers developed complete drop foot and had a staggering 16 surgeries to remove the dead muscle and also underwent a knee reconstruction to repair three ligaments.

Now the 31-year-old intensive care nurse in Canberra wears a foot brace and said she is doing “really good” despite being in constant pain, particularly at night, when her foot is motionless.

The former rugby gun, who grew up on the NSW south coast at Dalmeny and went to school at Narooma, said rowing has been instrumental in her recovery from her accident and dealing with the upheaval in her life.

“I started in 2017 and got selected in May on my first national team,” said Ayers, who opted for a rowing talent ID camp as she had previously been involved with the Broulee surfboat.

“The knee happening was the most traumatic thing but it has opened the door to meeting awesome people and some amazing opportunities.

“It’s taught me to make the most of what I can.”

But Ayers, incredibly, had been told she might end up in a wheelchair as a teenager when forced to have spinal surgery at 16 due to slippage of the vertebrae.

Ayers has been training on her own most of the time ahead of the Paralympics. Pic: Supplied

“They said at the time if I played rugby I might end up in a wheelchair,’’ she said.

“Rugby was my life.

“My whole world was crushed. In hindsight, it taught me resilience and about overcoming adversity.’

“But after that I came back and played 10 years.’’

It was this determination which saw her decide against quitting her bid for the Paralympics in 2019 when named a team reserve.

“For a moment I thought about quitting,’’ she said.

“I just changed my training and everything. At trials this year I just gave it my all and made the team.’’

In Tokyo Ayers will race in the PR3 mixed coxed four with teammates James Talbot from Elizabeth Bay, Tom Birtwhistle from Warrawee in Sydney and Alexander Viney from Hawthorn in Victoria.

“We have only had five days together since March so keen to get some times together in Tokyo,’’ she said.

Their first heat is on August 27.

Read more from AMANDA LULHAM HERE