2 February, 2025

Invictus Games competitor climbs her own mountain

White stuff… Tyler-Marie Gray will be competing on and off the slopes

Nearly five years ago, Devonport servicewoman Tyler-Marie Gray was fighting for her life in a Canadian hospital. Now she will return to that country next month to take part in the Invictus Games. She sees competing as the final step on a hard-won journey – and a chance to go for gold.
“I’d love to win a medal, but gold for me is honestly just making it to the Games and competing because this is already so far outside my comfort zone that for me it is a major achievement.”
The 27-year-old Royal New Zealand Navy leading logistics supply specialist will line up in four events. Sport has been an important part of her recovery after landing in hospital for seven weeks during a 2019 deployment on HMNZS Te Kaha.
Gray had been unwell, losing weight, and thought she was just recovering from a stomach bug, but tests prompted doctors to perform emergency surgery. She was found to have a previously dormant autoimmune disease – ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation in the digestive tract. Her large and small intestines were no longer functioning.
“I was told that I had a less than 5 per cent chance of waking up from surgery, which is something no one ever wants to hear.
“They removed my large intestine completely and a large portion of my small intestine. I had some horrible post-surgery complications, so the recovery wasn’t the easiest journey.”
But Gray says the experience changed her outlook on life for the better.
“I was in another country, halfway around the world from my family and I suddenly realised there was so much in life I hadn’t done. Getting sick has given me a whole new viewpoint on life because we really do only have one.
“I don’t want to put things off, and I don’t shy away from opportunities any more. I also realised that my body is a lot stronger than I thought, so I now find new ways to constantly challenge my body to see what I can do.”
At Whistler, north of Vancouver, Gray will next month compete in snowboarding, rowing, swimming and wheelchair curling, as part of a 19-member New Zealand team heading to the Games.
For Gray, who was raised in Devonport and is now based there, returning to Canada was “an opportunity to take my emotions and leave it all out on the competition floor – or leave it on the mountain as I come down and finally close the book on where my illness started, or at least a chapter of it.”
The Invictus Games, championed by Prince Harry, were established in 2013 and through sport they offer a recovery pathway for injured, wounded and ill service people. This is the first hybrid winter version of the Games.
New Zealand team participation is supported by the Auckland District RSA, Defence Force messes clubs, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, service groups and company sponsorships.
Gray is hoping to display the essence of the Games.
“I am wanting to make my friends and family proud, my new-found Invictus family proud,” she says. “But ultimately, I am wanting to prove to myself that I am capable of anything and that there are no barriers in life.”