"One step forward, two steps back": Joh Griggs reveals debilitating health battle
Johanna Griggs has revealed how she overcame a debilitating health struggle that threatened to derail her career as a teenager.
The former swimming champion won her first medal at the Commonwealth Games in 1990 at 16 years of age, but just one year later, her world changed forever.
In a new interview with Prevention magazine, the Better Homes & Gardens host admitted that being diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome at the young age of 17 was a blow, but one she ultimately felt “thankful” for.
“You learn more about yourself during a tough period than you do during a great one,” she said.
“One of the most important things that it taught me was to be able to be by myself and to be comfortable in my own skin.”
With her swimming career on pause, Joh shared that the next few years were “one step forward, two steps back”.
As a teenager, she learned the power of positive self-belief while learning what was best for her body as she worked her way back to physical and emotional strength.
“It’s asking yourself, ‘Can you put your head on the pillow and know in your heart of hearts you’ve done everything within your power that day to get better?’,” she said of that time in her life.
“But also, not beating yourself up on it, just working out what was working (and) what wasn’t working.”
Over the next two and a half years, Johanna was on a highly restricted diet to combat her health issues, one that was “wheat-free, yeast-free, egg-free, malt-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, herb-free, spice-free, caffeine-free”.
Eventually she was able to return to the pool, although she faced further setbacks, including a bout of pleurisy that landed her in hospital.
By 1993, she was back at the top of her game, taking out the win for the 50m backstroke at the Australian Swimming Championships.
Riding this high, Johanna decided her swimming career was over.
“For me, it was a massive milestone to get to say I could be the best, but I also knew when I hit that (pool) wall, I did not want to keep living like that,” she said.
“I told my mum I was retiring that night and remember her voice going up a couple of octaves higher than normal.”
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