Rylee Foster broke her neck and back in a horrific car crash. On Sunday, she played in the A-League

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If you break your neck in seven places, have a subdural haematoma and suffer two lower back fractures, staying alive is the first miracle. Not being permanently paralysed is the second, and getting yourself back to an active lifestyle is the third. But getting back to a stage where you can safely play as a professional goalkeeper? That is a whole different ball game.

That has been the challenge for former Liverpool goalkeeper Rylee Foster, after she was thrown through a windscreen in a car crash on an icy road in Finland on October 16, 2021, and was unable to move.

Rylee Foster makes a save during Phoenix’s match against Melbourne City in Wellington on Sunday.Credit: Getty

When the Canadian shot-stopper first spoke to Telegraph Sport four months after the accident, she wore a halo-fixation device, screwed into her skull in four places, to keep her neck still. And she passionately stated her desire to return to the game.

On Sunday, remarkably, she completed her comeback, when she made her debut for Wellington Phoenix in the A-League. The game ended in a 1-0 defeat to Melbourne City but for Foster, her family and the medical experts at Liverpool’s Walton Centre, to name but a few, it was a major victory.

Speaking exclusively to Telegraph Sport before her first competitive appearance since saving a spot kick for Liverpool in a penalty shootout victory over Aston Villa three days before the crash, Foster – who also suffered a broken cheekbone, misaligned jaw and a partially torn MCL in her knee during that horrific accident – says it took “an army” to get her fit.

“There was always a lingering belief and feeling that I would get back, but I won’t hide from the fact that there was also a lot of doubt from my end, and there were times when I thought I wasn’t going to be able to do it. The journey itself was up and down all the time,” Foster says.

Rylee Foster had to wear a halo-fixation device after a horrific car crash.Credit: Instagram

“But there was this burning desire inside me to get back on the pitch and redeem myself, and prove everyone wrong.

“That’s just the stubborn side of me. But now that I’m able to stand up tall and say ‘I did it’, it feels really powerful. It brings a lot of pride to myself, my family and to the support staff I had around me.”

After leaving Helsinki hospital, Foster’s sister Mackie moved in with her for six months to help her with everyday tasks like eating, getting dressed and washing.

The 25-year-old, who received her first senior call-up for Canada in 2021, said: “I owe my family my life, I’m forever in their debt. And Liverpool Football Club really helped me, providing the necessities and getting me on my feet again, getting me involved in the club and the community side, so I wasn’t just sitting on the sides. They were great.

Rylee Foster says Liverpool FC played an important role in her recovery.Credit: Instagram

“The Walton Centre did an amazing job of fixing me – I’m so thankful. And I have a psychologist, Mark, a legend, who helped keep my mentality stable.

“When adversity strikes in the rehab journey, things get really hard and you start to doubt yourself and doubt the process. Patience is the best word for it, for the hardest side: the mental side.

“You know the body is going to respond physically, I knew I was robust, and I could see the progress in my body, but mentally I felt as though I wasn’t overcoming the things as fast as my body was.

“Having to feel that and deal with that every day, I was in some very dark places and my thoughts were challenging to deal with, but I was very fortunate to have great surroundings.”

The Canadian shot-stopper says she owes her life to her family’s help during her darkest days.Credit: Getty

When she got the all-clear last year to take off the halo-fixation device, many people might have settled for getting back to normality. Diving around to make saves comes with extra risk for a neck-injury patient.

But Foster says the “challenge of throwing my body around was too exciting”, adding: “I think it’s the thrill. It’s a lot of passion, adrenaline and it’s something I love to do.

“I remember sitting with my family and coming up with things I could do if I wasn’t going to be able to play football again, and I was coming up with the most unlikely sports like, ‘I’ll get into road cycling, because why not? I’ll start doing crazy tours’, just so I was challenged.

“But once I knew I could get back on the pitch, there’s nothing like goalkeeping. There’s nothing like throwing your body around. It’s the satisfaction of making a save and being the hero.”

On July 15, while on trial at Celtic, Foster’s doctors gave her the all-clear to play football again, a moment she describes as like “getting a golden ticket”. She feels fate was involved in the club that chose to give her a professional contract.

“It means the world to me, and to sign for the Phoenix, it’s really symbolic I think,” she said. “The ‘Phoenix’ alone says a lot about the story, being something that rose from ashes, so it’s a perfect fit.

“When the email first came through, my mum was really honing in on the ‘Phoenix’ symbolism. I could tell it was meant to happen. And the Phoenix took me on as if I was a normal player again, which I’m very thankful for.”

Now a new chapter can begin for this strong-willed athlete from Ontario. She has had “You’ll Never Walk Alone” tattooed on her arm for a decade. The slogan feels as apt as ever in her tale of recovery.

Telegraph, London

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