Promising AFL player Josh Hanlon was just 20 when he went out for a beer with his teammates on a Saturday night.
The GWS Giants youth was in celebration, having been praised for his athletics during a match on the long weekend of June 2018.
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On Sunday, he woke up with a tickle in his throat: in the days before COVID-19, it did not cause him any immediate concern.
But on Monday, Josh was in an induced coma and the machines kept him alive.
“It was just your standard sore throat,” he tells 7Life of the ‘tickles’, who, at the time, didn’t raise flags on the fit and healthy young man.
Josh said he had a “standard” sore throat before his ordeal. Credit: Instagram / Josh Hanlon Prior to his illness, Josh was a rising star of the AFL. Credit: Instagram / joshwhanlon
Although his scratched throat bothered him relentlessly on Sunday, it wasn’t until the next day that he realized something wasn’t going seriously.
“I was awkward on Sunday, but Monday was getting worse,” Josh says.
“I went to Woolies looking for something to cook, but I couldn’t eat anything or get comfortable.”
Bacterial infection
So Josh called his mother, who was two hours away, and the couple agreed to meet at the hospital.
He arrived first, and was immediately put in an induced coma.
A life-threatening streptococcus A bacterial infection had spread through the bloodstream throughout his body, causing him toxic shock, sepsis, and organ failure.
“It was really bad. My whole body had shut up,” Josh recalls.
The young athlete was in and out of the coma for weeks.
After they finally took him, the doctors gave devastating news: he needed a triple-limb amputation.
Both legs would be cut below his knee and his right hand would be removed from his wrist.
Josh had both legs and right hand amputated after a battle with sepsis. Credit: Instagram / joshwhanlon
“They managed to cut it all off, or take it out, and I finally got over the infection,” he says realistically.
After life-changing surgeries, the 21-year-old was fitted with leg prostheses and slowly re-learned to walk.
They also put a hand prosthesis on him.
And after three months, Josh was allowed to return home.
“I came out of the hospital. It was a great feeling,” he says.
“I started to get back to normal: I was able to walk in and out,” he says, adding that in early 2019 his driver’s license was approved.
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“I regained my freedom and from there a snowball came out.”
Despite being a triple amputee, Josh was determined to push himself beyond his limits.
“Once I got to rehab, it didn’t stop me from learning to walk in and out of there,” Josh told the AAP.
But the physical and mental recovery was the hardest the young man has had to overcome.
“I was worried that after being so sick for so long … I was worried about not being out of the woods,” he says.
With the support of family, friends and his community, Josh also recognizes the sport to help him find his new life.
Love for sports
Josh was reintroduced into the sport by participating in wheelchair basketball at Wagga Wagga, in rural NSW.
With her siblings seamlessly getting involved in the game as well, she fell in love again with the adrenaline pumping through your body after exercise.
“[I was enjoying] getting fit and healthy again, going out, having fun, staying busy and trying new things, ”he says.
Josh made his Paralympic Games debut in Beijing in 2022. Credit: Instagram / joshwhanlon
Josh then became familiar with skiing again, an activity he had only done for a handful of weekends during family vacations when he was young.
He knew at once that he had found his vocation.
“I was a natural. I loved it,” he says.
After strengthening his muscles through the action nature of slalom and giant slalom, he soon sought greater challenges.
“Slalom skiing is very physical, so I think it was good,” he says.
At the age of 24, Josh made his Paralympic debut at the 2022 Beijing Paralympic Winter Games, competing in the men’s giant slalom event and the men’s slalom event (alpine skiing).
The 24-year-old is now preparing for the World Cup to be held later this year. Credit: Instagram / joshwhanlon
He finished 11th and 6th in a row.
Now, with new state-of-the-art prostheses, Josh is excited about what the future holds.
He is currently spending time on the NSW slopes training for the Alpine Skiing World Cup later this year.
“I’m still a couple of years old and I have a long way to go,” he says of his recovery.
“But if I can try to be more aware that life can be a lot easier after an accident, I will.
“The better you do, the more fun it seems, and there’s less fear the better you do.
“So every day is more and more fun.”
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