Inspirational Kathryn Dane all clear to make Ulster rugby comeback following brain haemorrhage recovery

Kathryn Dane pictured on Ireland Women's Rugby Captain's Run at Kingspan in 2022 (INPHO/Laszlo Geczo)

“Since then, I’ve realised when you’re in those dark places, you start to see all the light you have in your life.”

KATHRYN Dane has reached a significant milestone with her inclusion in the Ulster squad for the Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship, just over 20 months after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

One of the first players to be fully contracted to the IRFU Women’s 15s High performance programme, scrum half Dane suddenly took ill in November 2022 when rehabbing an anterior cruciate knee ligament injury at the IRFU High Performance Centre.

Thankfully, with Ed Slattery, the IRFU’s Head of Athletic Performance (Women’s Pathway & National Team), and Ciaran Cosgrave, the then-Ireland Men’s team doctor, both present, she was in Connolly Hospital within 15 minutes.

Test confirmed that the 26 year old’s brain haemorrhage was the result of a cluster of blood vessels in her brain that she had been born with but had never been detected.

It was a terrifying experience for the 23 times-capped Ireland international, which admittedly took months for her to process. Her background in physiotherapy helped her navigate what she was going through, aided by a strong support network around her.

“It was just a normal day of training, I was rehabbing an ACL injury I had,” Kathryn explained.

“I was in at 7.00am doing some warm-up sets of hip thrusts with my S&C coach Ed Slattery, and just got this massive pain behind my right eye in the back of my head.

“I didn’t feel great, but up until that point, I was 100 per cent; I was feeling fine. Ed noticed straight away that my face had dropped. I didn’t notice it but I didn’t feel great, and he quickly got the team doc, who was actually in the gym at the time, to have a look at me, and they knew straight away I’d had a stroke of some description.

“The speed at which the thing took hold was incredible. I think I had immediate left-sided weakness, I needed help to get myself off the gym floor into the medical room, so thank God I wasn’t on my own on a gym floor, that I had been in the HPC which is so close to Connolly and Beaumont Hospital where I needed the treatment straight away.

“I’m so, so thankful for being involved and being here at the time. I would have had a totally different outcome, and as you know with these things, time is everything.

“I was really lucky that it happened where it happened, because it could have happened on a rugby pitch in France or Italy. It was by chance that it happened there, and I do really believe that it was supposed to happen (there). I know it’s a (bad) card to be dealt, but it’s just a chapter in my story that I’ve had to overcome.

“You can’t change the cards that you’re dealt, you just have to try and react. You change how you play the hand. Before, I used to go through life at 100 miles an hour, not really appreciating the good things or the achievements or learnings that I’ve had.”

“At the beginning, there was a lot of headaches and fatigue to deal with,” she previously recalled of her early recovery.

“I’ve obviously been tired as a rugby player, but this level of fatigue has just shocked me. It really floors me.“I really struggled to sleep properly in the beginning, and that was also a mixture of emotional and mood things that were going on with me.

“I had a lot of work to do to deal with the mental stuff first before I could be in a better place with my physical health and recovery.

“To be honest, it wasn’t until two or three months after that I actually started to digest and process it. That was really, really emotional and difficult to come to terms with.

“I was just in survival mode, trying to sleep and eat and recover as much as I could. I don’t know whether it’s the elite athlete in me, but we’re not used to making time for the emotional processing of these big injuries. That was probably the biggest step in my recovery.

“At the time, I was in total shock. I hated the fact that the doctors were fussing over me. I hate that, people fussing over me. I think I was in such shock that I didn’t let fear or any of that anxiety creep over me, I just let the guys do what they had to do and gave them the information that I knew they needed to have at that time.

“I got to Connolly, and they did the MRI to confirm that it was a bleed from an AVM (Arteriovenous Malformation).“We were shipped to Beaumont straight away to try and get a bed there. I was under the care of Dr Rawluk, and within a couple of days, I had glue embolisation of the AVM to stop the bleed.

“I couldn’t stand being in the hospital. I was in a mixed ward of older people and I suppose I was in so much shock that I thought, ‘Oh my God, what am I doing here?’ I don’t want to be here.’

“Since then, I’ve realised when you’re in those dark places, you start to see all the light you have in your life.

“For me, I have an army of friends, team-mates and family around me that are just incredible, and it shows you the strength that you have in numbers. I have so many opportunities through sport and my PhD that I never really appreciated before.

“Now I’m going to be properly grateful for what I have and enjoy rugby and all the moments that I have. I think I did take it for granted before.”

It has been a long road back, with a second opinion sought last year on whether she could return to playing rugby, but Dane hit all her markers to make her comeback last month in a warm-up game against Connacht.

It was a whirlwind few days both personally and professionally for the Enniskillen native, with her seminal PhD thesis, ‘Playing Catch-Up – Safety and Optimal tackle outcomes in Women’s Rugby’, submitted that same week after almost four years of Trojan work.

During her recovery from the stroke, the Trinity College scholarship student and Old Belvedere star gained coaching experience with both her club and province, while progressing through the IRFU coaching course pathway.

She was the Ulster Women’s contact skills coach last season and, now back as a much-valued squad member, she ‘cannot wait’ to represent her province again on the Interprovincial stage.

Along with Dane’s inspirational return, Ulster have Ireland duo Brittany Hogan and Fiona Tuite to pack a punch up front, as well as promising prop Sophie Barrett, fresh from her Most Valuable Player exploits with the Ireland U20s in the Six Nations Summer Series.

Larne flanker Ruby Starrett who captained the Ulster U-18 team last season, steps up to the senior set-up, while Lucy Thompson and Paige Smyth are both involved after playing for Ireland at June’s FISU World University Championship Championship Rugby Sevens.

Catherine Martin and Lauren Farrell McCabe are two quality additions to the backs division, having combined to inspire Suttonians’ Energia all-Ireland League Women’s Division Conference title win in 2022.

Entering his second season at the helm, Ulster Women’s head coach Murray Houston has also been able to include Sale Sharks and Ireland centre Vicky Irwin, as preparations continue for their Saturday August 10 opener away to Munster in Cork (live on TG4/BBC 2 Northern Ireland).

“The squad is truly exciting this year. Many new faces are joining us, along with some familiar ones returning to the fold,” explained Houston, whose charges beat Connacht 36-14 last September for their first interpro victory since 2012.

“The team has a great deal of ambition, and our goal is to improve on last year’s performances. Our players have the talent to achieve this, and we’ve been pushing each other in training every week to ensure we reach our objectives.”

Following their trip to Virgin Media Park, the Ulster Women have back-to-back home matches at Kingspan Stadium, before the Belfast venue plays host to the Championship’s finals day on Saturday, August 31. Click here for ticket information.

ULSTER WOMEN’S SQUAD (2024/25 Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship):

Backs (14) – Abby Moyles, Catherine Martin, Kathryn Dane, Kelly McCormill, Lauren Patterson, Lauren Farrell McCabe, Lucy Thompson, Megan Edwards, Paige Smyth, Peita McAlister, Rachael McIlroy, Sophie Meeke, Tara O’Neill, Vicky Irwin.

Forwards (21) – Aishling O’Connell, Ava Fannin, Brenda Barr, Brittany Hogan, Bronach Cassidy, Cara O’Kane, Christy Hill, Ellen Madden, Ellen Patterson, Fiona Tuite, Gemma McCamley, India Daley, Lila O’Molloy, Maebh Clenaghan, Megan Brodie, Megan Simpson, Moya Hill, Ruby Starrett, Sarah Murphy, Sophie Barrett, Stacey Sloan.

2024/25 VODAFONE WOMEN’S INTERPROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES:

ROUND 1 –

Saturday, August 10