I'm still pinching myself! LOUISE'S INSPIRING COMEBACK

After learning to walk again, the equestrian's off to Paris

- Hayley McLarin

Louise Duncan is an optimist who looks for the good in the bad. When her fiancé Justin Duncan’s mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, they brought forward their wedding so Susan could be there – choosing the anniversary of Louise’s grandmother’s passing.

“We decided to make that a happy date for Nana and Justin’s mum, who passed away a month later,” explains the equestrian.

So she sees it as a positive that her grandfather Ivan Johnston learned she had been selected for the New Zealand Paralympic Team for the 2024 Paralympics in Paris days before he died last month.

“He was such a huge support – encouraging everything I did,” she tells. “I’m so grateful I was able to tell him I was going to Paris. He was so excited. His death was very unexpected following a serious fall. Even though he was 92, it hit us really hard.”

Louise also has happy memories of her grandfather during the most challenging time of her life – learning to walk and talk again after contracting meningococcal meningitis.

She says, “My grandfather participated in ballroom dancing. When I got out of hospital, he taught me to dance, helping with my mobility recovery.”

Louise was 17 when her arm felt stiff. The next day, she developed a rash and was vomiting. Her parents, Lloyd and Frankie Webb, rushed her to Palmerston North Hospital, where doctors started antibiotics for a range of potential conditions and performed a lumbar puncture.