Four months ago, Rylee Foster was in a serious car crash in Finland.
Now the professional Liverpool FC athlete, born and raised in Waterloo Region, is sharing what it’s like to recover from what she says felt like a near death experience.
In October, she was a back-seat passenger in a vehicle that lost control during bad weather, hydroplaned and flipped multiple times.
“That feeling of the rush of everything kind of going out of control, I remember that," Foster said. "But from the moment of rolling and then being ejected I have no recognition."
She recalls the car beginning to lose control, but doesn’t remember the violent parts of the crash.
“I remember being freezing, and asking for my friends," she said. "I was all by myself and no one spoke English. I had no idea what was going on.”
Foster vaguely remembers her conversation with the Finnish paramedics who helped her in a nearby field.
“There was a state of amnesia that has kind of been processed,” she added.
'THAT'S WHEN I GOT FOUR BOLTS PUT INTO MY HEAD'
Born in Kitchener, the 23-year-old grew up in Cambridge. After playing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Foster, who is a goalkeeper, moved to Great Britain to play professional soccer with the Liverpool Football Club women’s team.
With a rare weekend off, she went to visit friends in Finland. That's where her life would change forever.
“My life was turned upside down quite literally," Foster said.
After the crash, she stayed in a Finnish hospital for a week until she was deemed safe to travel and returned to Liverpool to continue her recovery.
However, it was only a few days later that her doctors in Liverpool rushed her back to the hospital after receiving additional test results.
"That's when I got four bolts put into my head," Foster explained.
The device she now wears to support her head is called a 'halo brace.'
She had seven fractures in her neck, including in the first two vertebrae. Her C1 vertebra suffered a burst fracture and was cracked in four places.
"In that situation, the fracture either kind of collapses in on the spinal cord and you become paralyzed whether it's a quadriplegic or a tetraplegia, because it’s that high up," she explained. "Or the fracture goes out and expands and it hits your arteries, compresses and then ultimately that could be an internal bleeding situation."
All the potential options, were obviously terrifying for the young athlete.
"I was somehow lucky, and I don’t know how. My bones expanded but they didn’t expand all the way so they just put a little bit of pressure on my arteries which basically allowed me to survive the accident," she said.
Although her seatbelt left serious injuries to her chest and lungs, she credits it for saving her life.
LIFE IN A HALO BRACE
Since the crash, she’s been taking it one day at a time, and despite being unable to move her neck, Foster is keeping her head held high.
Her days of being a star athlete however, are on hold for now.
“Don't get me wrong there’s so many times I just didn't want to come out of my room, so many times I just wanted to lay down and not talk to anyone," she said. "But my body and my mind would just not allow that to happen, so I just put a smile on and go on.”
She’s decided to share her experience and recovery online.
Posting her journey to TikTok under the username @Halolife06, Foster shares honest answers and teaches the public, while letting other crash victims know they're not alone.
In one video she describes how she sleeps, using multiple pillows to achieve a mainly upright position. In another, she documents the process of washing her hair and cleaning the area around her head screws.
A HOMETOWN HERO
Foster said she took about a month off at the beginning of her recovery given that, as she explains, "I was under a lot of pain medication so I wouldn’t have actually been present if I was [there].”
But since then, she has attended every home game in Liverpool.
“Everyone is so concerned and in Liverpool the fan base is like no other. It’s like a family,” she said.
At each game Foster steps on the field to give a wave to fans, “and let everyone know I am okay,” she said.
As for the emotional recovery, Foster said, “you lose your independence which I think has been the hardest part for me.”
She credits and thanks her youngest sister for staying with her full-time in England, assisting as a care taker.
“I literally couldn’t do anything at the beginning, the basic necessities of life, I could not do,” she said.
THE PATH BACK TO THE PITCH
The Glenview Park Secondary School graduate will soon be coming home to Cambridge to finish her recovery and be with family while planning her path back to the pitch.
She’s looking forward to a summer of recovering, before heading back to Liverpool next season refreshed and ready to go.
“I have never had a summer where I am not training,” she said.
As for the timeline of when she is expected to actually return to play, “they said a year, so I am keeping my hopes up,” she said.
However, the 23-year-old said she is also keeping her outlook realistic.
“If it doesn’t happen and it takes longer then it’s okay,” she added.
“I was put through a very very traumatic incident and the brain needs time to heal and my body just needs time to process everything. I think it's going to be a rollercoaster of emotions.”
