The Star: June 01, 2023

The Star Thursday June 1 2023
20
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Horror car crash uncertainty: Tall
Fern’s family feared she’d die
• By Nathan Morton
A TALL Fern star remains in an
induced coma and her family
reveal they feared she would die
after suffering critical injuries in
a horror car crash nine days ago.
Mary Goulding is in intensive
care at Christchurch Hospital
after the crash in Rangiora on
May 20.
Her sister Georgia said the
family is taking her recovery one
day at a time but that things have
improved over the past week.
“We were really fearful she
wouldn’t live for the first four
days,” Georgia told the NZ
Herald.
“It was a really trying time,
but then we reached the next
stage where we were confident
she would live and that’s where
we’re at.”
Georgia said the hospital’s goal
is to slowly bring her sister out of
an induced coma but the process
will depend on Mary’s daily
condition.
“The uncertainty of everything
else is so overwhelming, where
it’s all about where we sit at the
moment instead of being able to
look to the future.”
Mary is one of six siblings, her
family is spread across the world
– with siblings as far as London
and Toronto.
Georgia is based in Australia.
She flew back to visit her Canterbury-based
family the moment
she learned of her sister’s situation.
Most of Mary’s family has
come together to connect and
support each other over the last
nine days, something that stems
from a strong family bond.
“We really did lean on each
other hugely, especially in that
first week,” said Georgia.
“Then we’ve been pretty overwhelmed
by the support from
around the community - around
the world really - she’s travelled
everywhere and met so many
people.”
When Georgia thinks about
her sister, she says the first thing
all her siblings own is Mary is
the favourite.
“You’re not meant to have favourites,
but she easily is as she’s
so different to us.”
The difference isn’t just
physical, with the basketball star
stretching to six feet tall compared
with her shorter siblings,
but in terms of personality.
She’s known by her family as
an individual with a calming and
peace-making attitude towards
life, taking everything at face
value and never bad-mouthing
others.
Growing up, it was clear Mary
had a competitive side – being
the second youngest of six meant
she had to learn how to win
without the physical edge.
“It was easy to beat her when
you’re six or seven years older,
but she’d find a way to compete,”
said Georgia.
“She’s clever, she has a real
sports intuition and would work
out how to beat you even if you’re
ten times stronger. And then she
did grow bigger and stronger.”
Georgia reminisced over
watching her sister fly down
Auckland’s One Tree Hill on a
plastic motorbike, using her bare
feet to brake.
“She had no awareness of
pain.”
But it was the drive and hunger
inside of her that pushed her to
go further in sports than her
siblings, some of which already
played highly competitively.
As Georgia remembers, Mary’s
path to professional basketball
wasn’t straightforward. She had
talent but was never considered
a gifted prodigy, her success was
self-made.
After attending Rangiora High
School, Goulding spent a year at
Gillette College in Wyoming before
being recruited by Fordham
University.
“She had to work really hard,
even in university she did it the
hard way by sitting on the bench
and listening to coaches, finding
her playing style,” she said.
RECOVERY:
Mary Goulding’s
family is taking
her recovery
one day at a
time, but things
have improved
over the past
week.
PHOTOS: NZ
HERALD
“She had that intuition for putting
her body in the right places
and doing off-the-ball things
only people in the sport could
recognise.”
Mary grew into a fine defensive
player, built from previous
team mentalities that good
defence will win you games.
She travelled around the world,
playing in Sweden for a time
before competing in the WNBA
– which Georgia said was a hard
road for her sister.
“It’s hard to live in the middle
of nowhere,” she said.
“She wasn’t a stand-out player
but she didn’t turn away, and
eventually she became an integral
member of the squad.”
Mary made her debut for the
Tall Ferns in 2019 and made nine
appearances for the national
team.
There’s an admiration from
Georgia for how Mary applied
herself, going from an outsider
to one of the Tall Ferns’ integral
defensive members.
“Right up until the accident,
I was talking to her trainer and
she was working on her shooting
technique, she was still refining
things. That’s something that
always impressed me – I love
sport and played at a high level,
but I never had the same drive
that she had.”
Mary’s family rode her highs
and lows, cheering her on as
her sporting career went from
strength to strength. Yet she
would still find time to help
those around her, intentionally
going out of her way to serve and
spend time with those in her
community.
“If there was a moment of
doubt or frustration, one of
us would always be there to
support her either in person or
we’d be sending her messages
constantly,” said Georgia.
Messages of support have
flooded in from across the world.
In Perth, a fundraiser was organised
in her honour by one of her
former teams.
Georgia would receive texts
from people she’d never met,
telling her they’d met Mary at
some point and she’d impacted
them in some way.
The family is processing the
situation in different ways, but
the mindset is if anybody has the
strength to recover, it’s Mary.
“(She’s) the strongest person
we know – physically, mentally,
the optimism comes from the
fact she’s got it tough, the whole
world is praying for her and we’ll
be part of that.”
Goulding with the Bendigo
Spirit.
Do you suffer from
dizziness or vertigo?
These issues can be treated with vestibular physiotherapy.
Our team of experienced physiotherapists have all completed
internationally recognised competency courses in Vestibular Rehabilitation.
Contact our Dizziness Clinic:
Nicole Vercoe, Clinical Lead,
Physiotherapy
Nicole.vercoe@lfbit.co.nz
or on 03 335 0541
Dizziness Clinic