Blood Type: Roeger | Paralympian Serves Slice of Perspective

Sprawled in a Canberra gutter, Michael Roeger knew he was in trouble.

The rhetoric of being prepared to die is thrown around loosely in sport, but as Michael Roeger stared death in the face when vomiting blood profusely – all that mattered was life.

In the world of distance running, Monday means a clean slate. The habitual and stubborn creatures honour a worldwide agreement to reset their kilometres to zero and begin counting again with a thirst for progress. Roeger is no different. His alarm rings, he puts on his shoes, and he is one week closer to an elusive Paralympic gold – a feat that has eluded him in his four Paralympic appearances to date.

But on the first Monday of May in 2022, Roeger ran into a slice of perspective.

“It was 6:30 in the morning in Canberra and I was eight kilometres into my run when I started spewing up blood. I looked at the pavement which was all red and I remember just laying in the gutter,” Roeger said.

The world record holder had become well acquainted with pain and suffering in his quest for gold but even his greatest willpower offered little reprieve from the gastrointestinal bleeding running rampant in his body, stranded over two kilometres from his house. Deteriorating rapidly after stumbling home and taking a shower, Roeger drove himself to hospital where doctors saved his life with seven bags of blood over seven days.

“It really did put things into perspective, it’s giving me chills thinking about it. I remember that week in hospital, pooing out blood – I was just trying to be grateful for everything that I have got and not stress or worry about what I haven’t got or can’t do,” Roeger said.

“I just wanted to get better, still to this day I try to remember how I felt. I always put a lot of pressure on myself in the athletics world to be the best I can, I’ve been to four Paralympic Games but I want to enjoy and appreciate it more – that’s when I run my best and there’s still a bit left in this tank.”

The scariest ordeal of his life came just months after a career best run at the Adelaide Invitational, where Roeger obliterated the T46 world record with a dazzling 13:52.05 over 5000m in his hometown.

“You get asked what the best race of your career is and a lot of people think it’s the big races, but I reckon that was my best and most memorable - breaking 14-minutes on my home track in front of family and friends,” Roeger said.

“That world record gave me a lot of confidence and belief that I can still get the best out of myself and be competitive on the track.”

Waiting four weeks to restore his blood count under the watchful guidance of Coach Philo Saunders and the Australian Institute of Sport’s Doctor David Hughes, Roeger returned to his athletic pursuits with a newfound perspective, compounded by his previous Paralympic heartbreak in Tokyo when acquiring a stress fracture in preparing for the marathon.

“I still sort of feel like I am processing Tokyo, it’s hard to digest a little bit. Getting that injury five weeks out and not performing the best I could was shattering. I had dreamed of running the marathon at the Paralympic Games and winning it for a long time,” Roeger said.

“Going through Tokyo and not winning; I always thought that I needed a Paralympic gold medal to fulfil my dreams and my goals. Now I know that even if it never happens, I can hold my head high and be proud of my career.”

With the marathon and 5000m not offered for his classification at the 2024 Paralympic Games, the Australian has his eyes fixed firmly on a return to the event in which he first made a name for himself.

“It could be a full circle for me, starting my career as a 1500m runner and coming back to hopefully finish on top of the podium. I do love the marathon but that’s out of my hands, Philo [Saunders] believes I can still run fast on the track – I hold the world record which is a good start,” Roeger said.

Spending the last 12 weeks rehabbing a hamstring injury that marred much of his 2022 campaign including the Boston Marathon and his sixth-place finish at the Australian Half Marathon Championships in August, Roeger is confident in hitting full throttle by January as he targets the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris.

“We will look to the domestic season and go to all the Classic meets. I want to be a force in the 1500m, do another 5000m, and try to break eight-minutes at the National 3000m – that has been a goal of mine for a long time,” Roeger said.

“The plan is to hit the A-qualifiers in the 1500m for the World Para Championships in July.”

While conceding that his third gastrointestinal bleed is more concerning than the first two instances in 2012 and 2018 (which had known causes), the four-time Paralympian remains grateful that both he and his dream are alive heading into 2023.

“Thankfully I am still here, I have never been so scared in my life laying on the hospital floor with seven doctors standing around me,” Roeger said.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 8/11/2022