Francine Dudfield served 7 years as an Australian Army medic and trained to support special forces operations, going on to obtaining advanced rescue qualifications with New South Wales emergency services and deploying on operations within the Asia Pacific.

After suffering a series of deteriorating medical conditions Francine was discharged from Army, dealing at the time with chronic pian, family breakup, and the unknown of a forced career transition.

Inspired by Sydney 2018 Invictus Games Francine applied for the Invictus Games, quickly making connections to community sports groups and experiencing a shared sense of belonging and purpose. The Invictus experience has allowed her to recast her experience and perception of her departure from military service, while learning to better manage her physical recovery.

In this episode we also touch on the fine balance between determination tenacity learned in military service and self compassion and the need to listen to the body when undergoing recovery from complex injuries.

Francine is a member of the 2023 Australian Invictus Games team and is competing in Powerlifting, Rowing and Sitting Volleyball at Dusseldorf.

This Invictus Games 2023 series charts the journey of current and former Invictus Games athletes from a range of countries covering their military careers, their deployment histories and the injuries they sustained. We talk about their experience of life changing injury, and their remarkable physical and emotional recover through training and competing in adaptive sports and through the Invictus Games.

https://invictusaustralia.org

https://www.invictusgamesfoundation.org

Invictus Games Dusseldorf https://invictusgames23.de