AFLW star Tayla Harris reveals why she could lose two toes ahead of Big Freeze slide for FightMND

AFLW superstar Tayla Harris has detailed why going down the iconic Big Freeze slide to raise money for motor neurone disease (MND) could cost her two toes in a startling revelation.

The 26-year-old footy star and champion boxer answered the call of AFL legend Neale Daniher, who is battling the incurable condition, to go down the Big Freeze slide at the MCG for the annual King’s Birthday clash on Monday between Melbourne and Collingwood.

But it could come at quite the cost. 

Harris has a debilitating circulation condition that reacts badly to cold conditions – a problem giving the Big Freeze slide ends with participants plunging into a pool of ice.

The Demons premiership star said while she had no hesitation in getting behind Daniher’s brilliant cause, it wouldn’t come without a bit of pain. 

Tayla Harris (left, pictured with partner Kodi Jacques, a fellow AFLW star in their FightMND beanies) is set to go down the Big Freeze slide to raise money with footy legend Neale Daniher

But the Demons premiership star will go through significant pain to do so, and could even lose two of her toes

Harris, pictured with her border collie Beans, used to be able to take ice baths like this – but can’t any longer due to a painful circulatory disease

‘Two toes I could lose. It is going to sound like an excuse, but I’ve got a bit of a medical condition with my toes,’ Harris told KIIS 101.1’s Jase and Lauren on Wednesday morning. 

‘I haven’t been in the ice bath in a little while … and I’d probably get delisted from another club if I did this, but I have chilblains, which is a circulation issue.

‘They are about to fall off if they get too cold.’

Chilblains are itchy, swollen and painful lumps and lesions that usually affect fingers or toes in reaction to cold. 

What are Chilblains? 

Chilblains are itchy, swollen and painful lumps or patches on your skin. They form after exposure to cold but not freezing temperatures. They usually affect the fingers, and toes but can also appear on the nose and ears.

They appear as reddish-purple bumps or lesions on the skin, and blisters containing clear fluid may also form. 

Chilblains are caused by changes to your blood vessels in response to the cold, and can also form due to poor circulation. They can cause significant amounts of pain.

Chilblains usually come up on fingers or toes, and start with itchy, swollen patches on skin

How are they treated? 

• Corticosteroid cream or ointment to reduce itching and swelling
• Applying dressings to the affected skin
• Medication or patches to expand the blood vessels and increase blood flow to the affected areas

Source: Federal Government’s website, healthdirect.gov.au. 

Incredibly, Harris has even enquired about getting her toes amputated because they cause her so much drama. 

‘I’m just going to get over it [the toe pain] but I’ll be suffering. It’s my two pinkie toes. 

‘I’ve requested to get them removed but apparently that’s not an option.’

But when Daniher asks you to do something, you do it. 

The ex-Essendon skipper and Demons coach was diagnosed with MND in 2013, and instead of sitting around waiting for a sad and inevitable end, he decided to do something about it.

He launched FightMND to try and find effective treatments, and a potential cure, and has relentless campaigned for it, launching the now-iconic Big Freeze slide and raising more than $70million for vital research.

Neale Daniher (centre) and daughter Bec (left), who works with him at FightMND, in front of a beautiful mural of the footy legend in Melbourne done by artist Vincent Fantauzzo (right)

TV star Samantha Armytage has been one of many celebrities to make the plunge, going down on the Big Freeze slide in 2016

So Harris knew despite the condition, she just had to say yes to Daniher. 

‘I pretty much got the call [to be asked to join the Big Freeze], and I was never going to say no,’ she said. 

‘I don’t think anyone would be brave enough. It is just such an honour. There are a few things in life that you can be really proud of and this is certainly one of them.

‘[Neale Daniher] is obviously an inspiration and I just think the way that he goes about things with such dignity.

‘He is such an inspiring person, without even saying anything, he just has an aura around him. He is incredible.’

Harris is part of a star-studded line-up going down the slide this year.

Superstar actor Eric Bana, champion surfer Mick Fanning, Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Michelle Payne will join Harris. Footy legends Jason Dunstall and Tony Shaw and popular host Abbey Gelmi will also slide alongside two other celebrities that are yet to be named.  

It’s been a big few years for Harris since the AFLW launched in 2017.

Not only has she been one of the competition’s best forwards in its history and a four-time All Australian, Harris has an unbeaten 8-0-1 professional boxing record, and recently won the Australasian middleweight belt in front of a huge throng of her AFLW mates.

Oh, and she is a celebrant in whatever ‘spare’ time she has. 

The 26-year-old Demons premiership star has been one of the AFLW’s top forwards since its inception in 2017

Harris won the Australasian middleweight title in April with a stunning knockout win over Connie Chan

But for many people in Australia she is perhaps more well known as the footy star that was targeted by vile, misogynistic and homophobic abuse over a now-iconic photo of her eye-catching goal kicking routine.

She called out the horrendous abuse online with a shot of her acrobatic kick with the caption: ‘Here’s a pic of me at work… think about this before your derogatory comments, animals.’ 

The kick has since been immortalised in a statue in Melbourne, and Harris said in her ‘Kick Like Tayla‘ documentary on Amazon Prime that she was glad to bear the burden. 

‘I don’t wish it (vile abuse) didn’t happen. I’m glad it happened to me and not someone else that perhaps wouldn’t have been in the frame of mind to take on something so confronting,’ she said in the documentary.

‘If it didn’t happen to me it would’ve happened to someone else and who knows how they would’ve been able to handle it.’

Online trolls targeted Harris with vile abuse when she posted this shot of her kicking for goal in 2019. It has since been immortalised in a statue 

Harris (right) is in a long-term relationship with Essendon star Kodi Jacques (left), and admits she will always call out online abuse – though she gets far less because of it

Racist, homophobic and threatening messages on social media continues to plague all different sports in Australia, with keyboard warriors emboldened by the rise in right-wing propaganda. 

But Harris, who is in a long-term relationship with Essendon star Kodi Jacques, has never been afraid to call it out, and she says she now gets significant less trolling and disturbing direct messages.  

‘I’m a savage, I’ll screenshot you and put you and your profile on mine so everyone is going to see it,’ she told an impressed KIIS 101.1’s Jase and Lauren on Wednesday morning.

‘It’s not an attempt to get people to go at them … it’s just about accountability. 

‘My DM’s have improved, I think people are scared of sending me stuff now because they know I’ll call it out.’

The Big Freeze will take place at the MCG prior to the King’s Birthday clash between Melbourne and Collingwood on Monday from 2pm, with the first bounce scheduled for 3.20pm. You can donate to Fight MND here.