“Mum watched the [world short course] swimming last night … I had to get it on the TV for her. It was great that [Fraser’s god-daughter] Lani [Pallister] got [a] silver [medal].”
“She’s getting there. We haven’t been in this morning. She’s doing OK. [Well-wishers] have just been amazing.”
Ian Thorpe, widely regarded as Australia’s greatest male Olympic swimmer, said he wished Fraser a quick recovery.
Gina Rinehart (left) with swimming legend Dawn Fraser at the Paris Olympics in July.Credit: AAP
“Like many others, my thoughts and best wishes are with Dawn for a speedy recovery and I offer my full support to her family during this difficult time,” Thorpe told this masthead. “I look forward to the day when I can see her again healthy on the pool deck.”
Fraser was alone at her daughter’s house when the accident happened. Dawn-Lorraine and her son, Jackson, had been down the coast buying an iPhone when they received a call from their neighbour.
“I said we’re going to Bunnings,” Fraser said. “Our neighbour said, ‘no Dawn-Lorraine, you’re not. Come straight home. Your mother’s had a fall’.”
Fraser recently underwent eye surgery and had just had stitches taken out, which is why the family believe she protected her eye, not her fall, when she tripped.
“She never carries her phone but she had it in her pocket and rang our neighbour to say ‘could you come over, please. I’ve had a fall’,” Dawn-Lorraine said.
“We were five minutes around the corner and rushed home. I got there and an ambulance had been called. She was in and out of consciousness because I think the pain was so bad.”
Doctors told the family Fraser had broken a bone in her hip and it needed to be operated on immediately. There were also concerns about the potential of internal bleeding.
Dawn-Lorraine said she was asked by an anaesthetist what the plan would be if Fraser died.
“I was sobbing. I woke Jackson up and I said, ‘mate, I think you better get dressed. I don’t think grandma’s going to survive this’. We went up to the hospital and sat with her until she went into the operation. I thought we were going to lose her.”
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Fraser’s surgery was successful but it wasn’t until Tuesday that the family felt Fraser would make a full recovery. She is still being monitored for blood loss.
“Yesterday [Tuesday] was probably the first day we thought she’s going to be okay,” Dawn-Lorraine said. “She had colour [in her face]. She looks like the mother I knew 10 years ago. She didn’t look gaunt and skinny. She looked good.”
The family has been overwhelmed by messages of support, from John Singleton, one of Fraser’s closest friends who was one of the few people who knew about her fall, to billionaires Gina Rinehart and Lindsay Fox, as well as countless athletes, including golfers Karrie Webb and Laura Davies.
“It’s just been amazing. I’ve cried, I’ve laughed,” Dawn-Lorraine said. “I’ve just been amazed at how many people have tried to make contact.”
