The ultimate survivor

Jamie McInerney tackles a new frontier in style

Jamie McInerney has spent her life defying the odds and she is doing just that in the latest chapter of what is already a compelling story before she has even turned 30 years old.

She has been confronted with more challenges than the average 20-something and she has risen to every one of those obstacles, taking on life with a brain injury and not just surviving but thriving.

CrossFit is the latest mountain Jamie has been determined to conquer and over the past couple of years, she has done what she always does – works hard to achieve her latest goal.

Jamie has been working hard to put adaptive athletes in the spotlight in CrossFit circles and she has travelled Australia and the world pursuing that goal and the support of Blue Lake CrossFit here in Mount Gambier has been invaluable.

Last July Jamie qualified for the Wodcelona CrossFit championships in Barcelona, Spain, competing last September in what was her first ‘live’ competition, having previously been competing in the online space. Jamie showed she was a force to be reckoned with – finishing third in her division and having the honour of carrying the Australian flag onto the podium.

Jamie also competed at the Down Under CrossFit competition in Wollongong in November, a competition that also saw her meet her CrossFit idol Tia-Clair Toomey, who has been crowned fitness woman in the world six times.
Most recently she headed to the United States for the adaptive CrossFit WheelWod Games in Raleigh, North Carolina, competing in the Women’s Neuro Muscular Division in December.

Jamie finished overall fourth, securing top five finishes in nine of her 11 competitions, including a first.
Jamie, who has also tackled other sports over the journey, has a survival story that can only inspire.
She has no memories of her life before she turned five years old, with family photographs the only way she has of recollecting life as a toddler.

Jamie went from excited first time school student to hanging onto life by a thread.

Friday, May 28, 1999 was the day that changed Jamie and her family’s lives forever. What started as a sunny day playing with her parents and beloved 16 week old puppy Elmo in the family’s backyard ended with a horrific car accident and both Jamie and her family believe was it not for the life saving assistance provided by local ambulance officer Dave Dewar, that might be where the story ended.

Jamie’s father Greg had returned to work after lunch and Jamie and her mother Briony set off with Elmo to visit Jamie’s grandparents when on the Princes Highway, 10 kilometres west of Mount Gambier, a three car collision almost claimed Jamie’s life – it did claim Elmo’s.

Jamie’s mum was giving way to an oncoming vehicle when she was struck from behind, pushing her into that vehicle’s path and that’s when Jamie, who was the most critically injured of the six injured people at the scene, suffered a brain injury. “My brain actually fractured my skull from the inside,” Jamie said. Such was the force of the trauma on her young body.

It is a day Jamie does not remember but her mother and family will never forget. “I was unconscious and my mum thought I was dead because she couldn’t get a response from me,” Jamie said. It is almost impossible to imagine how long the 30 minutes it took for the ambulance to arrive on the scene must have felt to a mother with a broken pelvis and elbow and a father who had since arrived on the scene to see two of his family seriously injured, his daughter barely clinging to life.

Jamie did in fact stop breathing during her CT scan on arrival at the Mount Gambier Hospital but she was revived and flown later that night to the Women’s & Children’s Hospital in Adelaide by the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Her father arrived a few hours later on a commercial flight while her mother was forced to stay in Mount Gambier due to her own serious injuries.

It was a day that started the long road to recovery for Jamie –on day three of her time in intensive care, where she had been placed in an induced coma so doctors could try everything to reduce the swelling on her brain, doctors told her parents she probably wasn’t going to make it. Her mother was airlifted to Adelaide but even then, due to her broken pelvis, could only get a glimpse of her dying daughter from a distance.

The doctors had one last roll of the dice, another combination of drugs, and amazingly they worked and so began a series of days where the swelling reduced, Jamie was slowly brought out of her induced coma and lines, of which there were 14 at one stage, were removed – miraculously Jamie started breathing on her own.

“One of the biggest moments for my family was seeing me breathe by myself again,” Jamie said.

Her mother also remembers the first time she got to hold Jamie – it was day 11. “That was a pretty emotional time for me,” Briony said, “Everyone left us and I held her for three hours while she slept together and it really was one of the most special moments of my life.”

Jamie McInerney has spent her life defying the odds and she is doing just that in the latest chapter of what is already a compelling story before she has even turned 30 years old.

She has been confronted with more challenges than the average 20-something and she has risen to every one of those obstacles, taking on life with a brain injury and not just surviving but thriving.

CrossFit is the latest mountain Jamie has been determined to conquer and over the past couple of years, she has done what she always does – works hard to achieve her latest goal.

Jamie has been working hard to put adaptive athletes in the spotlight in CrossFit circles and she has travelled Australia and the world pursuing that goal and the support of Blue Lake CrossFit here in Mount Gambier has been invaluable.

Last July Jamie qualified for the Wodcelona CrossFit championships in Barcelona, Spain, competing last September in what was her first ‘live’ competition, having previously been competing in the online space. Jamie showed she was a force to be reckoned with – finishing third in her division and having the honour of carrying the Australian flag onto the podium.

Jamie also competed at the Down Under CrossFit competition in Wollongong in November, a competition that also saw her meet her CrossFit idol Tia-Clair Toomey, who has been crowned fitness woman in the world six times.

Most recently she headed to the United States for the adaptive CrossFit WheelWod Games in Raleigh, North Carolina, competing in the Women’s Neuro Muscular Division in December.

Jamie finished overall fourth, securing top five finishes in nine of her 11 competitions, including a first.
Jamie, who has also tackled other sports over the journey, has a survival story that can only inspire.

She has no memories of her life before she turned five years old, with family photographs the only way she has of recollecting life as a toddler.

Jamie went from excited first time school student to hanging onto life by a thread.

Friday, May 28, 1999 was the day that changed Jamie and her family’s lives forever. What started as a sunny day playing with her parents and beloved 16 week old puppy Elmo in the family’s backyard ended with a horrific car accident and both Jamie and her family believe was it not for the life saving assistance provided by local ambulance officer Dave Dewar, that might be where the story ended.

Jamie’s father Greg had returned to work after lunch and Jamie and her mother Briony set off with Elmo to visit Jamie’s grandparents when on the Princes Highway, 10 kilometres west of Mount Gambier, a three car collision almost claimed Jamie’s life – it did claim Elmo’s.

Jamie’s mum was giving way to an oncoming vehicle when she was struck from behind, pushing her into that vehicle’s path and that’s when Jamie, who was the most critically injured of the six injured people at the scene, suffered a brain injury. “My brain actually fractured my skull from the inside,” Jamie said. Such was the force of the trauma on her young body.

It is a day Jamie does not remember but her mother and family will never forget. “I was unconscious and my mum thought I was dead because she couldn’t get a response from me,” Jamie said. It is almost impossible to imagine how long the 30 minutes it took for the ambulance to arrive on the scene must have felt to a mother with a broken pelvis and elbow and a father who had since arrived on the scene to see two of his family seriously injured, his daughter barely clinging to life.

Jamie did in fact stop breathing during her CT scan on arrival at the Mount Gambier Hospital but she was revived and flown later that night to the Women’s & Children’s Hospital in Adelaide by the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Her father arrived a few hours later on a commercial flight while her mother was forced to stay in Mount Gambier due to her own serious injuries.

It was a day that started the long road to recovery for Jamie –on day three of her time in intensive care, where she had been placed in an induced coma so doctors could try everything to reduce the swelling on her brain, doctors told her parents she probably wasn’t going to make it. Her mother was airlifted to Adelaide but even then, due to her broken pelvis, could only get a glimpse of her dying daughter from a distance.

The doctors had one last roll of the dice, another combination of drugs, and amazingly they worked and so began a series of days where the swelling reduced, Jamie was slowly brought out of her induced coma and lines, of which there were 14 at one stage, were removed – miraculously Jamie started breathing on her own.

“One of the biggest moments for my family was seeing me breathe by myself again,” Jamie said.

Her mother also remembers the first time she got to hold Jamie – it was day 11. “That was a pretty emotional time for me,” Briony said, “Everyone left us and I held her for three hours while she slept together and it really was one of the most special moments of my life.”

With no movement on her right side, an inability to swallow and no speech, Jamie’s battle had only just begun. She was in hospital in Adelaide for eight weeks, always surrounded by family. “I showed no signs of recognising anyone besides my sister Nicole,” Jamie said. “I immediately connected with her and when she visited me I would grab her ear with my left hand and pull her close.”

That bond was unshakeable as Nicole climbed into bed with her younger sister every night. She was eventually moved out of paediatric intensive care and onto the ward but was still being fed through a nasal gastric tube. Therapy started and then so did the tears. “I couldn’t stand and therapy would make me cry from what everyone could only guess was from frustration and pain,” Jamie said.

Hydrotherapy was introduced and seemed to accelerate Jamie’s recovery but nothing came easily or quickly. “Our first family outing was very frustrating for me,” Jamie said. “I couldn’t talk and I couldn’t walk and even my good hand couldn’t get the message to let go of the bread I was holding to feed the birds.” Retraining Jamie’s brain had only just begun.

It’s hard to imagine just she went through – a five year old having two physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy sessions a day.

Eight weeks after the accident, Jamie returned to Mount Gambier and initially returned to kindergarten rather than school but was struggling because of being unable to speak and having trouble following instructions. It was clearly going to be a long haul but with the help of school support officer Marion Brooksby, Jamie returned to Mulga Street Primary School. Jamie has in fact had SSOs her entire schooling life.

In 2002, Jamie received a boost to her recovery – a little brother – Mikey. “He has been good for my recovery too,” Jamie said. “I re-learnt a lot of the early years stuff with him – things that had been lost from my memory.”
That was also the year Jamie started her journey in the sporting arena after physiotherapist Sue Charlton suggested Little Athletics would help with her rehabilitation but after a season, Jamie opted for t-ball and basketball. “I didn’t like coming last all the time,” she said. But while Jamie was trying other sports, her sister Nicole was shining at Little Athletics, breaking centre records and winning medals at State championships. “I wanted to do that too so the next season saw my return to athletics,” she said.

In the early days it was the throwing events – discus, shot put and javelin – and she was setting Australian records for her age group and classification. That was in primary school and in 2005 she was selected in her first State team to attend the Pacific School Games in Melbourne.

She competed at junior nationals for Athlete’s With A Disability (AWD) every year since and in 2010 competed in her first Athletics Australia nationals in Perth, alongside this nation’s best AWD and able-bodied athletes. The 100m, 200m and long jump are now her events of choice and in 2011 came her career highlight thus far. She was chosen to represent Australia at the International Paralympic Committee Athletics World Championships in New Zealand.
Jamie has also found a niche with photography and singing. Now she is making her mark in a new arena with CrossFit her new sport of choice. With Jamie McInerney it is always a case of watch this space.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED: (Left) Jamie McInerney tackling the long jump as a teeanger; (above from top) Jamie McInerney in action; Jamie with the Australian flag after finishing third at Wodcelona CrossFit championships in Barcelona, Spain last year & during competition in Spain.