Teen Athlete Hits #1 After Botched Surgery Nearly Ended Career

Eighteen-year-old Charli Gardiner-Hall thought her athletic career was over when surgeons had to remove a device meant to stop her seizures. The New Zealand para-athlete with Sturge-Weber syndrome had already lost months of training to complications and infections from the implant surgery.

Then doctors discovered they'd accidentally left plastic tubing inside her body. She needed yet another procedure to remove it.

"I had lost so much training time and conditioning, and it was all for nothing," Charli says. The teenager faces seizures at least twice a month and lives with balance and coordination challenges that make mastering athletic movements especially difficult.

But in late 2024, she returned to training six days a week with her coach John Eden. Her body still struggled to regain the skills she'd spent years building, and her neurological condition meant progress came slower than for other athletes.

The comeback started small. In March, she won gold in para-discus at the New Zealand Track & Field Championships. By April, she'd set a national shot put record at the Australian Championships in Sydney.

Then came May's Oceania Championships in Darwin. Charli threw beyond 28 meters twice, breaking the under-20 national record in para-discus. She finished her season ranked number one in the world for both under-20 para-discus and shot put in her classification.

"Sitting in that hospital bed getting that leftover tubing out of me, I never thought any of this would be possible," she admits. The Southern Institute of Technology student says she seriously questioned whether she could return to her pre-surgery distances.

Why This Inspires

Charli's story shows what happens when passion meets persistence. Her mom Kylie watched her daughter push through multiple medical setbacks that would have stopped most people. "Para-athletics was definitely her North Star," Kylie says of those difficult hospital stays.

The young athlete who started in the sport watching her older brother Quinn compete now has her sights on representing New Zealand at the World Para Athletics Championships and future Paralympic Games. She still lives with the daily reality of seizures since the device couldn't be replaced, but she's found her way forward anyway.

"I want to make myself and everyone in my team who supports me proud," Charli says.