19-year-old athlete fights for life after tragic accident
A 19-year-old Sunshine Coast triathlete is fighting for life in hospital after a severe bicycle crash on the weekend.
Alexa Leary was out on her normal morning ride at Pomona on Saturday when she was seriously injured before being transported to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital where she remains in an induced coma.
The athlete suffered a fractured scapula, ribs, shoulder blade, and wrist, a major knee injury, and a collapsed lung.
Her family has been told she also suffered major brain damage, with blood clots discovered on her brain.
Ms Leary, a competitive triathlete and trainer at F45 Noosa, has been described as “beautiful”, “bubbly”, and “strong”.
“We are all feeling the effect of Alexa’s situation and it’s rocked us. We are trying to continue life as normal but under the smiles we are beyond broken,” F45 Noosa said in a post.
“Her family are standing by … taking each moment she doesn’t decline as a mini victory.
“We need to keep this family in our thoughts and prayers, they need us and we need Lex to pull through.
“Lexi girl, you are stronger than you know, braver than us all and we totally know you will conquer this mountain. Come one Lexi, we are all waiting for you.”
Her sister Maddy shared on Instagram that the blood clots were the biggest concern, with doctors initially saying they would try and treat them on Tuesday, July 20.
But, on Tuesday night Maddy said “they didn’t touch the blood clots today. They said maybe tomorrow, instead.”
Alexa’s boyfriend, Will O’Dwyer, has posted images of his girlfriend alongside messages telling her to “stay strong my darling, I love you, you can do this”.
Belinda, Alexa’s mum, took to Facebook to share that doctors had to “take the risk” to give her daughter blood thinners, otherwise the clots “could take her life”.
Race Pace Coaching have described Alexa as “an awesome and tough athlete” who is “tenacious as they come”.
“She will need every ounce of her resilience over coming days and into the future with a long period of hospitalisation appearing inevitable,” the group said.
Her brother Max described his sister as “a ray of sunshine” and said “the Leary household has never been so cold”.
“You have always been strong and it’s not fair how much s*** you have been through this year; but you have to keep fighting … We want our big sister back,” he said.
Image: Alexa Leary / Instagram