Dawn Fraser’s daughter rocked by one question after nasty fall

As Dawn Fraser was undergoing emergency surgery after her horror fall, one question from medical staff stunned her daughter.

Dawn Fraser’s daughter has revealed the shocking question she was asked after her legendary mum was rushed to hospital following a fall last week.

The 87-year-old Fraser reportedly tripped on an unfinished driveway at her home in Noosa on the Sunshine Coast on December 4 and remained in hospital until Monday this week.

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The Olympic legend suffered a number of injuries, including four broken ribs, a gash in her arm and required surgery to replace a fractured hip.

Fraser’s daughter Dawn-Lorraine Ware and the family later released a statement saying the swimming great had “scared the daylights out of us”, adding “she is one tough lady”.

But one question in particular from an anaesthetist at the hospital has haunted Ware since the traumatic ordeal.

Dawn Fraser is recovering after a nasty fall at her Noosa home. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

“(They said) I want to know if I have to resuscitate her,” Ware told 7NEWS.

“And I said ‘are you serious? Yes, you will resuscitate her’.

“My mother is a fighter and you will make sure you do everything to save her.”

National treasure Fraser is one of the greatest athletes Australia has ever produced.

She was the face of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where she won gold in the 100m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle relay.

She would go on to win the 100m freestyle gold at the Rome 1960 and Tokyo 1964 Olympics in a record-breaking career.

The fall was understandably a horrific ordeal for Dawn’s family, who initially didn’t know if she would survive while she was in intensive care.

Her family wasn’t home at the time, which ended up being a huge blessing in disguise.

Dawn-Lorraine Fraser and her son Jackson after Dawn’s fall. Picture Lachie Millard

Dawn Fraser poolside before the 1960 Olympics in Rome.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen and I didn’t know if she was going to survive,” Dawn-Lorraine said.

“If we had been there we would have tried to get her up and as the doctor said, that would have been the most dangerous thing.

“Ribs would have broken and punctured a lung or her heart or something.”

Fraser was released from the ICU on Monday and her daughter was left facing an unthinkable reality after a chat with one of her doctors.

“It’s been scary,” she said. “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.

Matthew Johns chats with Fraser in the lead up to the 2024 Paris Olympics. Photo: Adam Head

“Because even though she’s my mum I’ve always thought of her as being invincible.”

Fraser broke and held 27 world records during her career — including lowering the 100m women’s freestyle world record to extraordinary new levels.

Having swum 1:04.5 when she first broke the record at the Australian Championships in 1956, she took the mark all the way down to 58.9 seconds the 11th and final time she broke it.

Fraser was the first female athlete elevated to Legend status by the Australian Sport Hall of Fame back in 1993.

The Hall of Fame also named an award after her in 2021 — The Dawn Award — which recognises an individual, team or organisation from this or a previous generation who are courageous, brave and have changed sport for the better.

Originally published as Dawn Fraser’s daughter rocked by one question after nasty fall