Family’s appeal four years on from Alexa Leary’s horror life-changing crash

It’s been four years since Alexa Leary’s life was turned upside down by a crash that left her life in the balance, before the Paralympic golden girl blazed a new trail. Now her family is calling for others to share their stories.

• Mini doco: Alexa’s story

It’s been four years since Alexa Leary’s life was turned upside down.

The promising elite triathlete – a silver medallist at the Junior world triathlete titles in 2019 – had just set out on a training ride on July 17, 2021, on the Sunshine Coast when a crash with another rider sent her flying into the gutter at 70km/h, leaving her life in the balance.

She was unconscious, her head split open, her ribs and scapula broken, her lung punctured, her right leg shattered, its knee obliterated, and most of her body covered in cuts and deep bruises.

“I was about 15 minutes behind and when I got there Alexa was in the gutter, and it was just horrendous,” her father, Russell told The Courier-Mail once she finally made it out of hospital after 111 days long days and nights.

On July 17, 2021, Alexa Leary, was on a training ride when she clipped the wheel of another rider causing her to lose control of her bike.

“There was blood everywhere, and at first I didn’t know it was her. I remember seeing her leg, her knee, just shattered, completely exposed … it was like a horror movie.”

Four years later, Alexa lives with permanent brain damage and weakness down the right side of her body as a result of the incident.

But not only did she survive, she has continued to defy the odds, channelling her indisputable natural athleticism into swimming.

Alexa Leary celebrates after taking Gold in the Women's 100m Freestyle S9 on day seven of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Her two Paralympic gold medals and a silver in Paris last year, adding to a gold and silver at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships, and it’s safe to say the 23-year-old is continuing to blaze an incredible and unlikely trail given where she was this time in 2021.

But on the fourth anniversary of the horror crash, her family took time out in a post to the Move for Lex Instagram page, to draw attention to the healing, relearning and chasing of her dreams that has got her where she is today.

“Living with a traumatic brain injury is something most people don’t understand until it touches their life,” they wrote.

“For Lex, every day brings new challenges, but also new strength.

“Alexa wants to use this day not just as a milestone of her own recovery, but as a day to raise awareness.”

Alexa in hospital with her parents during her recovery.

Her family called for others to share their stories so they could help raise awareness for traumatic brain injuries, saying there are many people living with traumatic brain injuries and each one is unique and worthy of being heard.

Originally published as Family’s appeal four years on from Alexa Leary’s horror life-changing crash