Australian swimming great Dawn Fraser makes personal admission about frail health
Australian national treasure Dawn Fraser has revealed how close she has come to death ... on two occasions.
The Olympic legend suffered a nasty fall at her Noosa home last December which landed her in ICU with multiple injuries.
The 87-year-old swimming champion has also revealed that weeks after that incident her heart stopped in another terrifying ordeal.
Fraser tripped on an unfinished driveway at her home, breaking her ribs and a major hip bone. She was hen rushed to hospital.
'When the anaesthetist came in, he said that I could die … And that was the frightening part, the fact that I might die under anaesthetic, and I didn't want to die that way,' she told Channel 10.
At the time Fraser gave her daughter, Dawn-Lorraine Fraser, the power to make medical decisions for her.
'The anaesthetist came in … and asked, 'did I give my daughter consent?' I said, 'Yes, I did.''
The anaesthetist then asked Dawn-Lorraine a staggering question.
'(They said) I want to know if I have to resuscitate her, and I said, 'Are you serious?'...,' Dawn-Lorraine told 7NEWS last year.
'Yes, you will resuscitate her; my mother is a fighter and you will make sure you do everything to save her.'
Fraser is widely considered to be one of Australia's greatest sportspeople.
And when they took her into surgery, her message to the staff was crystal clear. 'I'm going to fight,' she said.
Dawn-Lorraine said the doctor told her that her mother probably would not survive.
She responded: 'This is Dawn Fraser. She's not just an 87-year-old. She is tough. I know my mother.''
While Dawn survived, a few weeks later she suffered a scary heart issue.
'I was at the meeting at the surf club, and we'd finished, and I went downstairs to get a lift home,' she said.
'Unfortunately, I started to feel very faint, and I fainted. I was unconscious for 5-7 seconds, and I vomited everywhere, and I just didn't understand what had gone wrong.
'The ambulance took me to Noosa Hospital … they said that my heart had stopped for five seconds, and I had a very low heart rate.
'The doctor came in and said, 'I'm putting a pacemaker in,' because we'd had a few stoppages of the heart … I've had the pacemaker in there for eight weeks … and he saved my life.'
She said was still facing several issues and every day was a battle.
'I can still shower myself and take myself to the bathroom, but I can't make my own bed or open many doors,' she said.
'It's a fight every day, but at least I'm doing it.
'Some days I feel 87. Other days, I don't … I lost a lot of strength and weight, but I'm fighting to get it back.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
34 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Erin McNaught and Stace Cadet's son, 7 months, diagnosed with brain tumour
Erin McNaught and Stace Cadet have been left heart-broken after their seven-month-old son was diagnosed with a brain tumour. The 43-year-old model - who was previously married to musician Example - and the Australian record producer had noticed a "rapid decline" in their little one Obi's behaviour and happiness in recent weeks. The couple took him to hospital, where a neurosurgeon delivered the heart-breaking news that he has a "large brain tumour" on the right side of his brain, leaving the pair "absolutely shattered". In a joint post on Instagram, they wrote: "For the last few weeks we have noticed a rapid decline in Obi's behaviour and happiness. He was having problems eating, sleeping and most recently, keeping his head straight. Late on Tuesday, as a precaution we took our little man in for an MRI under instruction from our Doctor. At about 6:00pm Tuesday night we met with a neurosurgeon who broke the heartbreaking news that Obi has a large brain tumour on the right side of his brain. We are absolutely shattered and the last few days have been our hardest days. (sic)" Erin and Stace Cadet "remain hopeful" the mass can be removed and their boy can be "happy and healthy" again. They added: "Our team at the Queensland Children's Hospital have been incredible and we remain hopeful that we can remove the mass and get Obi healthy and happy, pending the results. We have a long and difficult road ahead us but are so lucky to have our family and friends' support at this time and we're keeping focussed on getting our little boy back." The couple welcomed Obi into the world last October. Stace Cadet - whose real name is Stasi Kotaras - said at the time: "We are so in love with him, we can't believe he's finally here. "Fair to say we didn't get a lot of sleep when we got home from the hospital last night. Mostly because we can't take our eyes off him." Erin added: "It wasn't the easiest pregnancy and a little touch and go at times but having him home with us now, has made us quickly forget the tough moments."
West Australian
37 minutes ago
- West Australian
Fremantle Dockers coach Justin Longmuir wary of much more than North Melbourne big man Tristan Xerri
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir says dominant ruckman Tristan Xerri is not the only midfield force the Dockers need to be wary of heading into Saturday night's away game against North Melbourne at Optus Stadium. Xerri is in white-hot form, ranked fifth for hit-outs with 440 this season, but it's his efforts at ground level that will clearly challenge the Dockers. The Roos ruck is ranked second in the competition for clearances, with 94, behind only Dockers midfielder Caleb Serong (103), 10 of them coming in last Sunday's narrow win over West Coast in Bunbury. He is poised to take on Fremantle's much-talked about combination of Luke Jackson and Sean Darcy for the first time. 'Clearly, he is in great form. He'd have to be All-Australian ruck at the moment or close to,' Longmuir said. 'That's going to be important. But they've got a lot of mids who go through there and get their hands on it and put good pressure on. 'The last four (games) they've been number one pre-clearance, number one pressure. So they make it a good, honest battle in there, and have been getting it going their way more often than not.' Xerri and Jackson are both cat like at ground level, but Roos prime movers Tom Powell, Colby McKercher, Luke Parker, Luke Davies-Uniacke, Dylan Stephens and Jy Simpkin combined for 25 clearances against the Eagles. The Dockers coach said they would look at structure and strategy, rather than major midfield change, backing in the proven combination of Andrew Brayshaw, Caleb Serong, Shai Bolton and Jackson, who are all clearance kings. 'Just understanding what they're going to bring and rolling up our sleeves and getting to work just on that,' he said. Veteran Nat Fyfe returned from injury for his first AFL game this season before the bye, having a major impact as the sub in the last quarter. Longmuir said Fyfe's impact was also big off the field and they were weighing up whether to again start the dual Brownlow medallist as the sub or on limited minutes in the starting 22. 'It is important when games get tough and tight to have wise calm heads, especially as a sub against Gold Coast,' Longmuir said. 'Every time someone comes to the bench, they look at the back of the bench and they've got someone who's really measured and calm talking to them and helping them problem solve and work through those situations.' The Dockers will stick with their forward line structure of three talls - Josh Treacy, Jye Amiss and Patrick Voss - which could stretch a North Melbourne defence missing the in-form key back Charlie Comben, who is out for two to three weeks with a shoulder injury suffered against the Eagles. 'I'm sure they've got some coverage to come in and replace but I think we can utilise that,' Longmuir said. 'The beauty about our talls is, they can provide good aerial targets and threaten aerially, but I feel like they're good at ground level as well, Vossy, Jye and JT. 'They join in at ground level and put pressure on and you don't even realise that we're playing three talls at times down there. 'So everything is an advantage there, but we also think we don't lose anything by playing those three talls.' The Dockers are coming off a hot run of form, with confidence inspiring road wins over GWS and Gold Coast, with a comfortable home victory against Port Adelaide wedged in between. But they are coming off the bye and have lost in the last three seasons off their mid-season break. Longmuir said they had made minor tweaks to their preparation. 'Slightly different,' he said. 'We've been changing up our schedule a bit, so it hasn't been specifically to the bye, but it's probably been specific to long breaks, the way we come out of the weekend in particular we've changed up, and probably most importantly, we've tried not to make it a narrative,' he said. 'We're a different team. We understand that the things that we've been doing prior to the bye have been working. 'So it's probably been more getting back to that process, rather than getting caught up in we need to win off the bye or that previous byes haven't worked for us. A few tinkers to the schedule, but it's mainly been getting players back to the process. ' North Melbourne will be playing its second successive 'home game' in WA, having edged the Eagles in Bunbury last Sunday in front of 12,700 fans with ticket sales for Saturday's game at Optus Stadium tracking on 30,000. The Dockers coach said it was 'critical' Freo fans turned up to the game, even though it was not included in their membership package. 'It's going to be unique. Clearly, it's an away game at Optus and it's not against West Coast, which is something new,' he said. 'It's something new for our players and we are desperate for our fans to get there. 'We understand it's not part of their membership, but we'd love them to fork out a few bucks and come and support us. 'We want to make our home ground a fortress and we need the purple army there to support us. The weather looks like it's clearing up, which may have held a few people back early in the week. 'I'm not 100 per cent on the financials, I don't get involved in that, but it was a bit like Gather Round, in some sense, to the Adelaide teams, where they get to stay at home for an extra week. 'It's an important part of our season, but it's also important part of equality of the fixture, in some sense. So yeah, we want, we want as many to get there as possible.'
7NEWS
an hour ago
- 7NEWS
Australian equestrian Heath Ryan issues statement after horse whip video emerges
Australian Olympic equestrian Heath Ryan has been forced to defend himself after shocking vision of him whipping a horse emerged on social media. The vision is two years old and it shows Ryan, 66, whipping a horse called Nico 42 times. The video was shared on YouTube and Facebook by DressageHub, with the title: 'Australian Olympian Heath Ryan Hits a Horse 42 Times in 30 Seconds .... Pretty sure this video will get pulled. Watch it while you can.' 'It's never-ending ... this horse is completely shut down. It's traumatised,' DressageHub says. has chosen not to show the viral video, which takes place in an indoor training arena. The sound of the cracking whip can be clearly heard, and the horse reacts by kicking its rear legs and swishing its tail. But Ryan was quick to defend himself when he realised the video had surfaced, and said that all the facts needed to be taken into account before any judgement was made. 'Oh my goodness! The most awful video of me on a young horse has just surfaced,' he said in a lengthy statement on Facebook. He then explained that it was a a 'life-and-death' situation for the horse and it was in fact saving it from the 'knackery'. 'I have never ridden anything like it. I am so sad this was caught on video. If I had been thinking of myself, I would have immediately just gotten off and sent Nico to the knackery,' he said. 'That video was a life-or-death moment for Nico and of that I was very aware. I felt I genuinely had to try my very hardest to see if Nico would consider other options. Anyway, by the end of that initial ride I did feel Nico was responding. 'I rode Nico for another couple of days and he responded very well and started to go without the use of excessive driving aids.' He said Nico — who had been 'beautifully bred' by his best stallions — had always been a 'problem child'. And before the horse was dropped off to him for training, Nico had a put his owner and good friend in intensive care. 'Nico, before he came to me, always had the best of best homes. He wanted for nothing. He was in wonderful condition, he was always rugged, he had his own paddock, he was regularly ridden and he was loved. Here is the question: if a beautiful 6yo horse turns up at your facility and it was bred by your stallion and it belonged to a lifelong friend of yours who had been put in hospital in intensive care by this horse, would you just send it to the Knackery??' He said he felt obliged to retrain the horse to 'see if it was possibly salvageable'. He said after that training session he found a 'brilliant' new home for Nico and the horse was 'thriving in a loving and competitive home with an exciting future'. 'All of this transpired sincerely with the horse's best interests the sole consideration. Unbelievably it was so successful for everyone except me with the release of this video. What can I say?' he said. 'If you think I did that flippantly, you are wrong. I hated reaching out in those moments to Nico and asking the hard questions. That was the last place I wanted to be. I have never before ridden a horse that reacted like that and I certainly will never do it again. 'Was it worth it?? Well, not for me, however, I am very happy for Nico. I need to add that this happened about two years ago and the video has been posted by an unhappy ex-employee. All I can say is that this awful video was collateral damage of me from the bottom of my heart launching a rescue mission.'
