“We see the worst of the worst,” Dr Alexander said.

Liana, 15, crushed her hand in a motor vehicle accident, and suffered partial amputation of her left hand, as well as multiple fractures.

“She came in with only the thumb still attached and viable and the rest of her fingers were cold and didn’t have any blood flow in them. There was missing skin, bone, tendons, nerves and arteries,” Dr Alexander said.

“It was one of the worst hand injuries I’ve ever seen.”

Dr Alexander, a specialist in hand and microsurgery, treated Liana at The Royal Children’s Hospital.

The first surgery was complicated.

“We cleaned the hand and had to get some blood flow back into the fingers. We ran vein grafts from her wrists, then bridged the gap between each finger individually and got the fingers back alive and flowing,” Dr Alexander said.

Liana had 20 surgeries to save her hand. The treatment also included regular cleaning “mud, gunk and grass” from the limb, and skin transplants to resurface the back of Liana’s hand.

Dr Alexander said Liana slowly regained function to her thumb and four fingers, but sadly lost her index finger due to infection.

“It’s taken a lot of surgeries to get it all back together. She’s got all the components to have a good hand,” Dr Alexander said.

“The next step is to take what is, in our minds, a good aesthetic hand – a thumb and some fingers – and make it more functional for her in the real world.”

Liana, a vivacious sports-loving teenager, is turning her battle from adversity into an inspirational journey.

She plays netball, competes in dragon boating events and is an avid skier. Liana is also on the long list for the Australian Paralympic Ski Team for the 2026 Winter Games in Italy. She trains with the Falls Creek Race Club and is involved in the Australian Institute of Sport green-to-gold youth development program.

“My message is, even if it seems like the darkest time, it’s not forever,” she said. “Once you get to the other side, you can do anything. My injury hasn’t stopped me from doing anything in my life. I’ll never give up. I can do anything. ”

Liana said her pathway to the Paralympics has boosted her determination to live her best life.

“I feel so grateful and empowered,” she said.

Dr Alexander said: “Liana has been so mature and brave. She asked hard questions like, whether it’s all worth it, or whether we should chop fingers off if it went wrong”.

“She was very open about it all. She was smart enough to understand the nuance behind everything. I think that helped.”

He said RCH resources, teams and therapists contributed to Liana’s journey.

“We were very lucky to have the resources, theatre space, doctors and nurses to get a kid back to surgery that many times,” Dr Alexander said.

“The RCH is amazing.”