After hitting rock bottom, a Brisbane veteran, mother and now athlete admits she “didn’t want to live any more”. This is how the Invictus Games saved her life.
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.It took more than three months for Brooke Mead to fight through a gym session without breaking down in tears.The aftermath of her military service, and the trauma and physical anguish that came with that, proved overwhelming.
As a patrol boat sailor, her daily life featured body recovery missions and “generally not nice work”.But on the ship, Mead was part of something – a brother and sisterhood that bonded each member.Medically discharged with a spinal cord injury, PTSD, depression and anxiety, Mead’s transition away from service proved so confronting, it nearly cost her life.
For the Games in Germany, beginning on September 9 in Dusseldorf, she will compete in powerlifting, indoor rowing, and table tennis – the latter of which she first tried just two months ago when she was forced to withdraw from swimming due to a recent knee reconstruction. While enduring recent setbacks – her knee injury preventing her from even walking up stairs for several days, as well as suffering shoulder tears while snowboarding – Mead is sure she has overcome enough to possibly make an impression at the Invictus Games.“I think I’d always been waiting for that one day when I woke up and it would shift – and it did,” she said.
“But I want to win … I’m excited and overwhelmed, and really proud of how far I’ve come and what I’ve achieved in the journey.“Invictus is more about the journey than the performance on the day – I’ve overcome so much to get this far.” Mead’s battle upon being discharged from military duty has been one shared by many veterans, sparking a federal government declaration that changes are afoot.
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