Told She'd Never Walk, Talk, or Live. Then She Won Gold at the Paralympics - Uncut with Alexa Leary

This week we sit down with Alexa Leary; two-time Paralympic gold medallist, world record holder, and author of Sink or Swim. You might know her as Lex. You definitely know that viral clip of her dancing in Paris. In 2021, Lex was 19 and training to be a professional triathlete when a cycling accident left her with one of the most severe traumatic brain injuries Royal Brisbane Hospital had ever seen. She wasn't supposed to survive. She had seven brain operations. Doctors told her family twice to come and say goodbye. Three years later, she broke the world record in Paris.

Lex talks about what life with a TBI actually looks like day to day: the four years of memory wiped, waking up not knowing where she is, the boyfriend she couldn't remember, and the really dark period she's written about in her book for the first time. She is funny, warm, completely unfiltered, and has a really unique perspective on her second life.

We chat:

• The accident and the miracle chain of events that saved her
• Four to five years of memory wiped - including her relationship, her best friend, and a tattoo she has no memory of getting
• What a traumatic brain injury actually looks like from the inside & the stuff nobody sees
• The really low period in the middle of it all, and what she wants anyone in that place to know
• How swimming went from rehab to two gold medals and a world record in Paris
• The quantum healer who predicted her medal haul from the ICU and was right
• Her new book and the chapter she never thought she’d share

Timestamps

• 0:00 — Introducing Lex
• 8:40 — The accident, the miracle chain that saved her, and 111 days in hospital
• 17:10 — Four years of memory wiped — including her mum, her boyfriend, and a tattoo she doesn't remember
• 21:10 — The invisible side of TBI nobody sees behind the gold medals
• 27:20 — How swimming went from rehab to two gold medals in Paris
• 34:25 — Standing on the podium — and the viral dancing moment
• 42:00 — New music, the LA Paralympics, and what's next

You can follow Lex on Instagram and grab Sink or Swim

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Hosted by Britt Hockley & Laura Byrne

Produced by Keeshia Pettit

Video Produced by Vanessa Beckford & Lachy Pugsley

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