Later this week teenage Para swimmer Rylee Sayer competes for New Zealand at the 2026 Para Pan Pacific Championships in Walnut, California (Aug 29-31) hoping to put the seal on an excellent year. Here the Hamilton Aquatics club Para swimmer talks about how Para swimming has played such a pivotal role in her life.
For teenage Para swimmer Rylee Sayer, the swimming pool has always been a place of happiness.
Through some of the most difficult moments of her young life – from cancer and chemotherapy to the amputation of her right arm – Para swimming has provided an escape and a critical anchor in her life.
“During chemo it was so important to focus on something else, so I went back into the pool for training or even just to swim socially,” recalls Rylee.
“I remember after my amputation, a week after the staples were removed, I got back in the pool.
“Even today, if I’ve had a bad day at school, when I swim I don’t worry about anything.”
Born with tuberous sclerosis complex, a rare genetic condition that can cause tumourous growths in organs including the brain, Rylee has faced more medical challenges than most teenagers could ever envisage.
Yet her relationship with the water began early.
At just two years old, she would regularly jump into the swimming pool “because she thought it was funny” – on three occasions rescued by her mother, Amanda.
Swimming lessons soon followed, and it did not take long for a natural talent to emerge.
Initially classified as an S14 Para swimmer because of her intellectual impairment, Rylee made a rapid impression, setting multiple S14 Open records as a 13-year-old.
Then, in October 2023, her life was to dramatically change.
After months of pain in her right arm, Rylee was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer, in her right shoulder.
Within a month, she had undergone surgery to remove her right arm, clavicle and shoulder in a bid to save her life. Chemotherapy followed.
For someone whose nickname is “Rainbow” – a reflection of her bubbly and energetic personality – Rylee responded to the enormous challenge with typical positivity.
Switching from the S14 to the S7 classification proves less daunting than expected as she set about re-learning four strokes with one arm.
“After I was diagnosed with bone cancer, I did a lot of band sessions in the pool,” she says. “When I had the sore arm, I often did strokes using one arm, so I felt quite well prepared following the amputation.”
But while she was adapting physically to life without her right arm, Rylee was also navigating the emotional impact of cancer.
“I lost a lot of friends when I had cancer,” she says. “My only friends were my Para swimming friends.
“I don’t blame my old friends for what happened. I think it was because they didn’t know what to say to me but having friends in that Para space was so important.”
Rylee’s first international competition in her new classification came at the 2025 World Para Series event in Melbourne, where she won two medals.
Later that year, she produced an even bigger statement at the World Para Swimming Championships in Singapore, advancing to three finals, highlighted by an impressive fifth-place finish in the Women’s 50m Butterfly S7.
“I didn’t really know what to expect there, but I was surprised to make three finals out of four,” she says.
The championships also carried a deep personal significance.
One of Rylee’s friends, whom she had met while undergoing cancer treatment, had passed away shortly before the event.
“I was struggling with that,” she says. “But when I was racing the 50m fly, it felt like she was standing next to me. I had goosebumps.
“That race, I felt so fresh and when I touched the wall in fifth, I was absolutely stoked. To be fifth best in the world, how cool was that?”
If Singapore represented a breakthrough, the months since have been about building on that momentum.
Following the World Championships, Rylee was diagnosed with dystonia, a neurological movement disorder that can cause involuntary movements, unusual postures and significant fatigue.
At times, the condition has caused intense pain and made it difficult for her to put her foot on the floor. A cast has since been fitted to help with her walking and reduce the strain on her leg.
Once again, however, Para swimming has provided an outlet.
Late last year, Rylee also made another significant change, linking up with coach Matt Woofe.
She remains grateful to former coach Graeme Laing for helping her re-learn how to swim following her amputation but believed a change could provide fresh impetus and renewed motivation.
So far, it has proved a successful move.
“He is very understanding as a coach,” says Rylee. “If something is too much for me and I can’t finish the set, he is okay with that.
“He’s really good at communicating and explaining things to me. He is very comfortable with that.”
The workload is significant.
Balancing five swimming sessions and three gym sessions each week with life as a student at Hauraki Plains College in Ngatea is demanding, but the results are increasingly evident.
Rylee has set a string of national S7 records this year and claimed a confidence-boosting bronze medal in the multi-class Women’s 50m Butterfly at the Australian Championships on the Gold Coast in April.
A month later, she went a step further at the Para Swimming World Series in Fuji-Shizuoka, Japan, winning three medals – gold in the Youth Women’s 400m Freestyle S7, plus silver in the Youth Women’s 50m Freestyle S7 and Youth Women’s 100m Breaststroke SB7.
Now comes the biggest test of her season.
Rylee will contest five events at the Para Pan Pacific Championships – the Women’s 50m Freestyle, 100m Freestyle, 50m Butterfly, 100m Butterfly and 400m Freestyle – as she looks to make another impression on the international stage.
Despite her rapid rise, she is refusing to heap pressure on herself.
“I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself, I just want to have fun,” she says.
“The goal for me is always to enjoy the meet, give it my all and make some finals. The events are multi-class, which makes it so much harder to make finals, but some PBs would be nice.”
For all the progress she has made, though, Walnut is just another step towards a much bigger dream.
With the LA28 Paralympic Games now less than two years away, Rylee has set her sights firmly on becoming a Paralympian.
“I dream about competing in LA so much,” she says.
“Qualifying for the Paralympic Games would mean so much for that 15-year-old girl who was diagnosed with cancer and ended up losing an arm a month later.
“It makes me cry just thinking about it, knowing that I’ve overcome so many challenges.”
***New Zealand is sending a team of four Para swimmers to compete at the 2026 Para Pan Pacific Swimming Championships:
Brooke Anderson, Rylee Sayer, Jessica Johnstone and Paralympian #237 Gabriella Smith
When do the Kiwis compete (all times NZT)
Day 1 – 29 August
100m Freestyle – Rylee Sayer and Brooke Anderson
50m Butterfly – Rylee Sayer
Day 2 – 30 August
400m Freestyle – Rylee Sayer and Brooke Anderson
100m Breaststroke – Jessica Johnstone and Gaby Smith
Day 3 – 31 August
100m Backstroke – Brooke Anderson
50m Freestyle – Rylee Sayer and Brooke Anderson
200m Individual Medley – Gaby Smith
100m Butterfly – Rylee Sayer
***For more information on the 2026 Para Pan Pacific Swimming Championships go here
***Credit for cover image: Swimming NZ & Simon Watts/www.bwmedia.co.nz @bwmedianz
