This article was supplied by Rowing NZ and is being published by the New Zealand Herald as advertorial.

Rower Fiona Paterson ranks as one of New Zealand’s most courageous athletes. She talks to Andy Hay about her new challenge in the sport.

Fiona Paterson has had to say no to a lot of things over the past few years.

The after-effects of a once life-threatening cancer can limit your ability to say yes, to take up opportunities, to stretch yourself too thin.

But this month, the former World Championship medallist and 2012 Olympic double sculler was back in a high-performance role with the sport she’s been dedicated to since she was a student at Columba College in Dunedin.

“I’ve got lymphoedema, which is a bit of a hangover from cancer treatment and having lymph nodes removed,” says Fiona from the classroom where she tutors Year 8s at Rangi Ruru Girls’ School in Christchurch.

It’s a condition that can cause severe swelling in the limbs. It’s something she’s lived with since being diagnosed with and treated for a rare form of cervical cancer nearly 20 years ago. But in 2018, the lymphoedema in her leg worsened significantly.

“I got an infection which damaged the lymph system further and made the leg very large and more prone to re-infection – which is a vicious cycle,” says Fiona. “And then after that, it was quite hard to manage. I got to the point it was stopping me doing things.”

Among them was having to step away from an eight-year rowing coaching role at Rangi Ruru, until a procedure in 2022 made life more manageable again.

“I was probably quite careful pre leg operation of not doing too much, not over-extending myself, because that’s one of the things that can make it worse, and so I guess I went into a patch of my life where looking after that was my number one priority.

“I had two litres of solidified lymphatic fluid sucked out of my leg through liposuction. “It just made everything flow and I didn’t have to drag around a heavy leg anymore.”

And she won back the ability to say, “Yes, I’m in”.

That began with being accepted into the New Zealand Olympic Committee’s Wāhine Toa programme two years ago, aimed at assisting former Games athletes into leadership roles.

“It was a lot of fun and it inspired me to be open to leadership and other opportunities in sport again,” says Fiona.

Fifty-two women have now graduated from the programme.

And then at the end of last year, Rowing New Zealand’s GM performance, Judith Hamilton, had another offer.

She wanted Fiona on the elite selection panel for the next Olympic cycle.

So last month Fiona was back at the New Zealand Rowing Championships, meeting with fellow selectors Gerry Dwyer and Dr John Storey and re-immersing herself with the sport she never really left.

Fiona welcomes some of the changes that have been made around selection since she was an athlete in the programme.

“The separation between the Performance Assessment Panel, like the coaching panel, and the independent selectors, that separation of roles is a really healthy thing,” says Fiona.

“We don’t coach the people we are selecting, we don’t see them every day. We can be really objective and we can look out for the people that might slip through the cracks or just ask questions of the PAP that maybe they haven’t thought of. It’s just a check and a balance and I think a check and a balance in any kind of system is a really good thing.”

Read the rest of this article here: rowinghub.co.nz/a-woman-of-unwavering-belief/

This article was supplied by rowinghub.co.nz, the official content hub of Rowing New Zealand. Explore rowinghub.co.nz for more rowing-related content like this. Andy Hay wrote this article. Andy is a freelance producer, writer and rowing coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and ‘83. He is NZ Olympian #446.