Young Para Sport swimmer doesn't let cancer stop her dreams

At 15-years old Rylee Sayer has been selected for the Para Sport Collective, a New Zealand-based charity organisation created to support the countries disabled athletes.

Sayer is a student at Hauraki Plains College who has been fighting cancer since last October, losing her right arm only a month later.

The Para Sport Collective selected their second intake of 12 coaches and 25 athletes, including Sayer, to participate in three national in-person camps and bi-monthly virtual connections.

The charity was created by Paralympics New Zealand and supported by ACC to educate participants in performance life, nutrition, physiotherapy, and more.

Sayers coach, Graeme Laing, the son of Duncan Laing, the late New Zealand Olympic coach, says her progress amazes him as she has come so far.

“We can't wait to see where she gets to once she finishes chemo and can train full time again.”

Sayer loves swimming and says after her diagnosis and amputation, she wasn’t sure if she could swim, let alone compete ever again.

“Being given the chance to swim again is a huge blessing, and I am not going to waste that”.

She is excited to be named in the collective, as it will give her access to more support and help her get back on track.

“Having cancer and my amputation has made me more driven to achieve my goal of going to the Paralympics one day.

I am not going to sit around and wait for cancer to get me. I am going to live every day to the best of my ability.”

High school teacher Amanda Sayer, Rylee Sayers mother, says her daughter has taken these challenges head-on with massive strength and resilience and couldn’t be prouder.

“When the surgeon told us they would need to take her shoulder and arm to save her life, she responded that she did not need an arm to be the same person.”

The Collective consists of like-minded athletes, including Sayer, who’s looking forward to learning tips and tricks that able-bodied people can’t give her.