Mrs Austin told the inquest at Caernarfon that, after her daughter's stroke, she was fed a liquid diet but had progressed to eating soft food over the years. Austin has worked with Polatajko to utilise 'her weapons' but also to lean on her teammates up forward to support, which she has seen as a major benefit to her game as a whole. Pathologist Dr Mohammed Aslam said death was due to asphyxia with her condition noted as a contributory factor.

A 14 month stay in hospital followed with Mia writing poems and stories to keep her alert and occupied. Although she was left unable to speak, move and only able to communicate through eye movement, determined Mia pushed the boundaries to live her life to the full. During her time on the sidelines, Austin was able to tap into the knowledge of the experienced Carlton forward line, with Jess Dal Pos, Brea Moody, Phoebe McWilliams and Darcy Vescio being the sounding boards for the 19-year-old.We can all take our memories of Mia into our future lives and be thankful for the short, but memorable time we each have spent with her. Mia Austin, from Bebington , suffered from ‘Locked-in Syndrome’ - meaning she couldn't move or speak and could only communicate by using a special computer which tracked her eye movements. Despite having this life-changing condition, Mia refused to give up and focused on living her life to the fullest, while also helping others.

With the pressures that come with Austin’s Rising Star, Polatajko has given the 19-year-old reassurance that her team will support her the whole time. I, too have a Tobii Dynavox I-12 series, and it is the fastest way I have found to communicate with the outer world! Her story captured the admiration of the public when the shortlist was announced, winning the public vote and title of Woman of the Year with 2,451 votes, the largest number of votes for one finalist in the event’s 16-year history. Mia has touched the lives of thousands of people and the World is worse off for not having her in it.Gab Pound speaks to Carlton Media about looking ahead to Round 9 and how there is still plenty to play for. Austin, who worked for The Co-operative Travel in Heswall in Merseyside , passed away on Wednesday last week – two days before being named Merseyside Woman of the Year 2019 and Inspirational Woman of the Year. While Mia can see, hear, and think as normal, she cannot move from the neck down and has to be fed through a tube. She continued to travel and undertook lots of charity work, including sleeping out on the streets of Liverpool to raise money and awareness of homelessness.

Mia has recently completed a Criminology Course, a Forensics Course, and also a Criminal Justice Course. Everyday things we take for granted like speech and communication etc she had to find in a completely different way. She was not only inspirational with her positive attitude after what she has been through, but she was a kind person and would put others before herself. While it took Austin until Round 3 to impact the scoreboard, it has been nothing but impressive progress since, with her fourth two-goal effort of 2023 coming against Greater West Sydney in Round 8 and earning her an AFLW Rising Star nomination. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.The next day Mia had some frozen pasta delivered to the Diner and left a note for Roman: “See you for lunch? These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience – the local community.