Scots pole vaulter battles way back from intensive care
Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 10:45 pm
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=458072006
Scots pole vaulter battles way back with giant leap from intensive care
STUART BATHGATEIN MELBOURNE
Athlete suffers allergic reaction after eating pizza
Kirsty Maguire had attack of anaphylactic shock and required intensive care treatment
Pole vaulter was able to recover and compete in Commonwealth Games
Key quote
"Over the past fortnight, everything that could have gone against me has done. To come through that, come out here with the Scottish tracksuit on and get over the bar is something I'll never forget." - Kirsty Maguire
Story in full
A YOUNG Scottish athlete was able to compete in the Commonwealth Games despite being admitted to intensive care with anaphylactic shock after eating a pizza.
Kirsty Maguire was put on life-support after suffering a severe allergic reaction to food she ate in the Scottish training camp at Bendigo in Australia.
The hurdler Ross Baillie, 21, died in 1999 when he suffered a similar reaction after eating a chicken sandwich containing traces of peanut oil. Earlier this week, his brother Craig broke his Scottish record and went on to win a silver medal in the 110m hurdles.
Yesterday, Maguire, 22, told of her fightback to be able to compete in the Games.
"Over the past fortnight, everything that could have gone against me has done. To come through that, come out here with the Scottish tracksuit on and get over the bar is something I'll never forget," she said.
"I'm proud of that, and when I look back in years to come, I'll consider it a massive achievement," she added.
Her problem began shortly after she arrived in Australia to train with the national team and ate pizza which may have had traces of foods to which she is severely allergic. She was rushed to hospital and was treated in intensive care.
Although she was quickly out of danger, the episode left her unable to train for nine days.
However, she still came agonisingly close to making the final. She cleared 3.6 metres at her first attempt, then 3.8m at the second. Unfortunately, she was eliminated after failing three times at 3.9m and had to watch from the sidelines as, one by one, other vaulters went higher to claim the dozen final slots.
Maguire has had several reactions of similar severity to the one she suffered in Bendigo, and knows that away from home she is always at risk.
She said: "There was nothing that could have been done, because the preparations were good, everyone was aware of the allergy and they did everything they could to prevent it. "I've had four or five severe reactions and some minor ones. The one before this was probably in 2004, when I came out a week later and jumped 3.9m. That made me think I could perform, because I hoped things would be pretty much back to normal. The one in Bendigo was certainly as severe as anything I'd suffered before.
"At home, you only eat things you know are safe. When you are away from home in a foreign country, it is more difficult.
"We think it was a pizza, but there was nothing actually in the pizza that should have caused the problem," she went on.
"I'm sensitive to traces; it just has to be the tiniest amount. It can be caused by something that someone has touched."
Although the problem, which affects one in 100,000 people, impacts on every area of her life, Maguire sees no reason to give up athletics. At present, she plans to be still competing when the next Commonwealth Games come around in 2010.
In the end she came 13th in the pole-vault qualifying round at the Melbourne Cricket Ground - one spot below qualification for the final.
The result was a disappointment that reduced her to tears, but the tenacity that drove her from a hospital bed into the stadium was worthy of any gold- medal winner.
"It is disappointing to know that, had I been fit, the final would have been within my grasp," she said. "I need to be glad that I managed to get out there and jump."
Scots pole vaulter battles way back with giant leap from intensive care
STUART BATHGATEIN MELBOURNE
Athlete suffers allergic reaction after eating pizza
Kirsty Maguire had attack of anaphylactic shock and required intensive care treatment
Pole vaulter was able to recover and compete in Commonwealth Games
Key quote
"Over the past fortnight, everything that could have gone against me has done. To come through that, come out here with the Scottish tracksuit on and get over the bar is something I'll never forget." - Kirsty Maguire
Story in full
A YOUNG Scottish athlete was able to compete in the Commonwealth Games despite being admitted to intensive care with anaphylactic shock after eating a pizza.
Kirsty Maguire was put on life-support after suffering a severe allergic reaction to food she ate in the Scottish training camp at Bendigo in Australia.
The hurdler Ross Baillie, 21, died in 1999 when he suffered a similar reaction after eating a chicken sandwich containing traces of peanut oil. Earlier this week, his brother Craig broke his Scottish record and went on to win a silver medal in the 110m hurdles.
Yesterday, Maguire, 22, told of her fightback to be able to compete in the Games.
"Over the past fortnight, everything that could have gone against me has done. To come through that, come out here with the Scottish tracksuit on and get over the bar is something I'll never forget," she said.
"I'm proud of that, and when I look back in years to come, I'll consider it a massive achievement," she added.
Her problem began shortly after she arrived in Australia to train with the national team and ate pizza which may have had traces of foods to which she is severely allergic. She was rushed to hospital and was treated in intensive care.
Although she was quickly out of danger, the episode left her unable to train for nine days.
However, she still came agonisingly close to making the final. She cleared 3.6 metres at her first attempt, then 3.8m at the second. Unfortunately, she was eliminated after failing three times at 3.9m and had to watch from the sidelines as, one by one, other vaulters went higher to claim the dozen final slots.
Maguire has had several reactions of similar severity to the one she suffered in Bendigo, and knows that away from home she is always at risk.
She said: "There was nothing that could have been done, because the preparations were good, everyone was aware of the allergy and they did everything they could to prevent it. "I've had four or five severe reactions and some minor ones. The one before this was probably in 2004, when I came out a week later and jumped 3.9m. That made me think I could perform, because I hoped things would be pretty much back to normal. The one in Bendigo was certainly as severe as anything I'd suffered before.
"At home, you only eat things you know are safe. When you are away from home in a foreign country, it is more difficult.
"We think it was a pizza, but there was nothing actually in the pizza that should have caused the problem," she went on.
"I'm sensitive to traces; it just has to be the tiniest amount. It can be caused by something that someone has touched."
Although the problem, which affects one in 100,000 people, impacts on every area of her life, Maguire sees no reason to give up athletics. At present, she plans to be still competing when the next Commonwealth Games come around in 2010.
In the end she came 13th in the pole-vault qualifying round at the Melbourne Cricket Ground - one spot below qualification for the final.
The result was a disappointment that reduced her to tears, but the tenacity that drove her from a hospital bed into the stadium was worthy of any gold- medal winner.
"It is disappointing to know that, had I been fit, the final would have been within my grasp," she said. "I need to be glad that I managed to get out there and jump."