In the Blink of an Eye: The Story of Mia Austin and Her Triumph over Locked-In Syndrome

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Mia has taught us how to deal with adversity, to give generously to those in need, to inspire people to be the best versions of themselves, not to take tomorrow for granted, to live life to the full, but most importantly, how to be a nice person. Austin, who worked for The Co-operative Travel in Heswall in Merseyside , passed away on Wednesday last week – two days before being named Merseyside Woman of the Year 2019 and Inspirational Woman of the Year. Its short snippets of what I can remember of my journey from the night before my accident, through to each ward I was thrown into, and finally, my coming home and getting my life back. While it took Austin until Round 3 to impact the scoreboard, it has been nothing but impressive progress since, with her fourth two-goal effort of 2023 coming against Greater West Sydney in Round 8 and earning her an AFLW Rising Star nomination.

It is obviously a very sad time for us, but we are so happy that she succeeded in her efforts and we wish Laura the very best of luck in role as co-Merseyside Woman of the Year. We’ve all got each other’s backs and were all there to help each other grow and I really love that ‘Polly’ has implemented that. At the start, I didn’t really know how to handle it but I feel like now I am taking it on as a challenge and just trusting what I’ve worked on,” Austin said. Her story captured the admiration of the public when the shortlist was announced, winning the public vote and title of Woman of the Year with 2,451 votes, the largest number of votes for one finalist in the event’s 16-year history.

It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. She had become well known in the region for her charity work after suffering the stroke a decade ago. Her parents were told the stroke would prove fatal, but she defied the odds and survived, travelling around the world and writing a book about her life story using just her eyes. But the inquest was told Mia suffered from "locked-in syndrome" - and was unable to cough up the sweet.

She continued to travel and undertook lots of charity work, including sleeping out on the streets of Liverpool to raise money and awareness of homelessness. She said there had been previous choking incidents, including another at the holiday park when she choked on a burger. She was a party animal before her incident but she doesn’t let it stop her doing anything now, either - she doesn’t class herself as disabled. Her friend Ben, posted a statement on her Mountains for Mia page: "Unfortunately on Wednesday, Mia lost her life, in the place she loved the most, Abersoch. aking a strong contested mark inside the opening minutes of the season opener, Austin calmly slotted her first goal on debut against Collingwood, backing it up with a major against Essendon the next week.

IN HER very short career, Mia Austin has had to overcome what most footballers deal with over the course of a storied career. We can all take our memories of Mia into our future lives and be thankful for the short, but memorable time we each have spent with her. She died just two days before she was named Merseyside Woman of 2019 for her charity work and had been excited at the prospect of attending the ceremony, the inquest heard. A 14 month stay in hospital followed with Mia writing poems and stories to keep her alert and occupied.

Mia was then diagnosed with an extremely rare condition known as ‘locked in syndrome’ which medics have described as “the closest thing to being buried alive”. The Club also acknowledges and pays its respects to their Elders past and present and the Traditional Owners of the many lands on which we play our great game.Coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones recorded a verdict of accidental death after the tragedy in June while the family were on holiday in Abersoch, North Wales. She was left with Locked In Syndrome, a medical condition that damages part of the brainstem, paralysing the body and most of the facial muscles. Mia Austin, from Bebington , suffered from ‘Locked-in Syndrome’ - meaning she couldn't move or speak and could only communicate by using a special computer which tracked her eye movements. The next day Mia had some frozen pasta delivered to the Diner and left a note for Roman: “See you for lunch? Unfortunately, her maiden campaign stopped there due to a syndesmosis injury, but even that was enough of a sample size to show what Carlton fans can hope to see from Austin for years to come in the Navy Blue.