By Tom Decent
The daughter of swimming legend Dawn Fraser has revealed just how close the Olympic great came to death after a fall on an unfinished driveway.
Moments before being taken for emergency surgery on a broken hip last week, close family were told there was a good chance Fraser might not survive the fall at her daughter’s house on the Sunshine Coast.
At the hospital, Fraser turned to her daughter, Dawn-Lorraine, and said, “I’m going to fight.”
“The last thing Mum said to me [before her surgery] was, ‘I’m going to fight’,” Dawn-Lorraine Fraser said. “I said, ‘You make sure you fight.’
“Then when she came out of intensive care, she looked at us and said, ‘See, I told you I’d fight.’
“The scariest moment was when the anaesthetist just said to me, ‘She probably won’t survive this.’ They don’t know my mother and they don’t know how much of a fighter she is.
“You don’t want to know what I said back. I basically said, ‘Whatever happens, you will resuscitate her. You will keep her alive.’”
Dawn-Lorraine and Dawn Fraser in 2001.Credit:
Fraser, who also suffered four fractured ribs in the fall, is recovering in hospital on the Sunshine Coast and has started walking again. The 87-year-old watched on TV as Australia’s swimmers competed at the world short-course championships in Budapest.
“Mum watched the swimming last night … I had to get it on the TV for her. It was great that [Dawn Fraser’s god-daughter Lani Pallister] got a silver.”
“She’s getting there. We haven’t been in this morning. She’s doing OK. [Well-wishers] have just been amazing.”
Ian Thorpe, widely regarded as Australia’s greatest male Olympic swimmer, wished Fraser a quick recovery.
Gina Rinehart with Fraser at the Paris Olympics in July.Credit: AAP
“Like many others, my thoughts and best wishes are with Dawn for a speedy recovery and I offer my full support to her family during this difficult time,” Thorpe said. “I look forward to the day when I can see her again healthy on the pool deck.”
Fraser was alone at her daughter’s house when the accident happened. Dawn-Lorraine and her son, Jackson, had been out shopping when they received a call from their neighbour.
“I said we’re going to Bunnings,” Dawn-Lorraine said. “Our neighbour said, ‘No, Dawn-Lorraine, you’re not. Come straight home. Your mother’s had a fall.’”
Fraser recently underwent eye surgery and had just had the stitches taken out, which is why the family believe she protected her eye, not her fall, when she tripped.
“She never carries her phone, but she had it in her pocket and rang our neighbour to say, ‘Could you come over, please. I’ve had a fall,’” Dawn-Lorraine said.
“We were five minutes around the corner and rushed home. I got there and an ambulance had been called. She was in and out of consciousness because I think the pain was so bad.”
Doctors told the family Fraser had broken her hip and it needed to be operated on immediately. There were also concerns about the possibility of internal bleeding.
Dawn-Lorraine said she was asked by an anaesthetist what the plan would be if Fraser died.
“I was sobbing. I woke Jackson up and I said, ‘Mate, I think you better get dressed. I don’t think Grandma’s going to survive this.’ We went up to the hospital and sat with her until she went into the operation. I thought we were going to lose her.”
Fraser’s surgery was successful, but it wasn’t until Tuesday that the family felt Fraser would make a full recovery. She is still being monitored for blood loss.
“Yesterday was probably the first day we thought she’s going to be OK,” Dawn-Lorraine said. “She had colour [in her face]. She looks like the mother I knew 10 years ago. She didn’t look gaunt and skinny. She looked good.”
The family has been overwhelmed by messages of support. Those messages have come from people ranging from John Singleton, one of Fraser’s closest friends and one of the few people who initially knew about her fall, to billionaires Gina Rinehart and Lindsay Fox and countless sportspeople, including golfers Karrie Webb and Laura Davies.
“It’s just been amazing. I’ve cried, I’ve laughed,” Dawn-Lorraine said. “I’ve just been amazed at how many people have tried to make contact.”
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