For breakout Southern Steel defender Carys Stythe, 2024 was supposed to be her year. Her then-team, the Northern Mystics, won the ANZ Premiership and, at 22, she was named in the Silver Ferns development squad. Cementing her place as one of our most exciting young netballers with a bright future in the black dress.
A year of big moves
Now, as she chats to Woman’s Day, Carys can’t quite believe how much has changed in a year. She’s still dominating on the court, of course, and she’s moved from Auckland to Invercargill for more game time and opportunities.
But the Carys that’s in front of us today is very different from who she was last year because she’s supported her mum Sara through her battle with stage-four bowel cancer.
“It’s been a lot,” she says.
“There were a few menty Bs [mental breakdowns] last year. There were a lot of things to be sad about, but netball was a good distraction.”
Facing the unthinkable
Sara was diagnosed just after her 50th birthday in April 2024. When she had a sore stomach that she just knew wasn’t right. No one was expecting bowel cancer, including medical professionals, and her initial prognosis was grim.
“She has a type of bowel cancer that doesn’t respond well to traditional chemo,” says Carys.
“She had surgery, six months of treatment and briefly had no evidence of disease, before a scan earlier this year showed it had spread. “It’s never going to go away – it’s just managing it now. If we’d caught it earlier, it’d be a different story. I really support the movement for bowel screenings to be lowered to 45. That’s why I want to talk about it and raise awareness of bowel cancer – if even one person reads this and goes to get checked, it’s totally worth it.”
The diagnosis knocked Carys for six and the news meant her netball suffered as she tried to deal with it all.
She remembers, “I was staying at a friend’s house in Christchurch after a game and just broke down. I probably scared her! But it was all building up – I was training twice a day, playing and everything else that comes with netball. I didn’t have a moment to think, let alone be with my feelings, until it all came out.”
Finding strength through family
Carys went from playing full games to being taken off early, which further affected her mental health.
“Everyone was so lovely and gave me the time that I needed, but I used netball as a distraction too much in the end,” she reveals.
“I needed time to actually process it.” A silver lining, Carys says, is it’s brought her tight-knit family even closer. Her dad Gareth, older sister Imogen and younger sister Isla banded together to support Sara, despite the distance – Imogen’s now on her OE, with plans to settle in London, while Carys is based down in Southland.
“Mum encouraged us to keep going with our dreams,” Carys tells.
“She’s incredible. She’s the strongest woman I know. We’re not criers in our family. We’ve had our crying time now and we’re getting a move on with things. Mum’s like, ‘Well, what else can I do?’ She really is the best mum.”
Sara’s health battles have also meant huge changes for youngest sister Isla, who has autism. The events of the past year have meant she’s become a lot more independent, which has been amazing for Carys and the rest of the family to see.
Carys shares, “She’s never made her own school lunch before, but the last time I came up to Auckland, she was doing it by herself in the morning. It was really cute. She loves coming to my netball games – although I think she’s just there for the hot chips! But I’ll take it. She’s always yelling, ‘Great job, Carys!’ from the sidelines.”
A fresh start
Carys is loving her life in Invercargill with her partner, New Zealand men’s netball representative Hikoirangi Paki, and says the relocation has been healing.
“I didn’t want to go back to the same places where I spent so much time crying,” she tells.
“I’m dealing with it a lot better this year and the change of scene has been great – people really love netball down here!”
And if she ever needs a burst of inspiration when she’s on the court, Carys need only look down to her shoelaces, where she’s written her mum’s name.
“I just want to make her proud,” she smiles.
