Jayden Broome returned home to Gore two weeks ago after a four-month hospital stay.
Jayden Broome loved playing rugby as the underdog.
Whether it be people suggesting he was too small or that he would never make it from a small rugby school in Gore. Broome lapped up the opportunity to prove people wrong.
That attitude was evident in 2024 when he was named in the New Zealand Māori U18 team, which upset the New Zealand Secondary Schools team.
His footy challenges were nothing compared to what life has thrown up for him during the past four months, but the 19-year-old has continued to relish that desire to beat the odds.
At just after 10pm on September 8, Broome’s life changed dramatically.
Broome had gone onto a two-storey roof at a student flat on the corner of Dundas St and Castle St in Dunedin to take a photo.
He slipped and fell, hitting the footpath below.
“My memory of that night is pretty bad. I don’t remember anything of that night. Probably because I was drinking, and it was a brain injury.
“I just asked people around me that were there what happened. But my memory from beforehand is all good; sometimes I need a reminder, but I remember,” Broome told The Tribune.
The student flat on the corner of Dundas St and Castle St where Jayden Broome fell.
Broome suffered a significant brain injury.
That’s not to mention he broke his pelvis, broke both his shoulder blades, and ruptured his spleen and liver.
The pelvis, shoulder blades, spleen, and liver, and other injuries, went a long way to healing as he lay in a coma in the hospital.
The brain injury, as expected, has proved to be a bigger recovery, and the proud Gore lad has tackled it with remarkable positivity.
He knows the outcome of that September 8 fall could have been even worse.
“That has definitely played in my head, the fact that I could have died… [But] I’m alive, I’m here, and I’m on the improve now.”
That’s not to say there haven’t been dark and difficult moments during his recovery journey.
It includes the challenges of speaking during his four months in the hospital.
“Mentally, to be fair, in the first month or so when I couldn’t talk, I was quite depressed.”
“People would come and visit, and I couldn’t talk. I could function in my head, and I wanted to say stuff, but I couldn’t butt into a conversation on me. I couldn’t add my point of view, because I couldn’t talk.
“Everyone knew I was trying to talk, but I couldn’t get the words out. That was quite hard.”
After a period of not being able to speak, a tracheostomy valve was inserted in his neck to assist him with communicating. It was in place for about three months.
“I was quite emotional when that came out because that was part of my life for three months.
“After that, I could talk, no problems. So, probably after about three and a half months, I could start talking on my own. It’s a long time without talking.”
On top of that, for 115 days, Broome also wasn’t able to eat.
He was fed through an NG tube, which went through his nose and directly to his stomach.
Broome couldn’t taste anything.
He’s now on a soft food diet with the hope that an x-ray of his swallow in a few weeks will prove he can start eating some of the foods he has been craving.
“I love Chinese mate,” Broome says about what’s on top of the wish list.
Jayden Broome during his four-month hospital stay.
For a teenager who has been so active and had somewhat of an addiction to training, the frustration of what he cannot do is probably felt more than others might.
“I can’t do what I used to do, go to the public gym and have a run around. I can’t do that, I’m pretty room-bound at the moment.
“I’ve just got into a habit at the moment of sitting outside and getting a bit of sun,” Broome says.
“My balance isn’t 100%. The part of the brain affected was my coordination. It is still alright, but I have the odd wobble. I can still walk, but I wobble a bit.
“Every day it is improving, which is good. I’m pretty cautious. I’ve only fallen over twice in my four months.”
Broome says the most difficult conversation he’s had to have with himself during the past four months was coming to the realisation he will never play rugby again.
The 19-year-old has been part of Rugby Southland’s academy and had some lofty goals.
He had a massive 2025 club season for his University club in Dunedin, and a month or so before the fall had played a preseason game for the Southland Stags.
The night of the fall, he had just returned from Christchurch after captaining the Southland Under-19 team.
“I’m not going to play rugby anymore. To be fair, for three months when I was in hospital, I was saying I’m going to come back. I’m going to be the guy who went through a brain injury and came back,” Broome says.
“But when I sat down and thought about it, I thought, is it worth it? The worst thing that could happen is that I could die on the field from a head knock; it is not really worth it. I want to be Dad and Grandad, and travel around one day.
“That was a hard conversation to have with myself. I definitely did cry. The nurses and my mum thought it must be quite big if I’m crying about it.
“For [mum] to hear those words that I was not going to play again, it was quite emotional for her too, she knows how much rugby means to me. For me to say those words was quite big for her.”
While he’s acknowledged he won’t play again, Broome expects rugby will remain a big part of his life.
On Tuesday, he went along to an Eastern-Northern Barbarians training in Gore and spent some time watching on.
“It doesn’t mean I’m giving up on rugby; I still love it. I’ll still be involved.
“I want to coach, just not yet. I don’t want to be a 19-year-old coach, I want to travel first.”
Jayden Broome playing for the Southland Stags in an NPC preseason game in July, 2025. Photo: DEBBIE FAHEY
The other poignant moment to date for Broome was when he was told he was able to leave the hospital in Dunedin and return home to Gore.
He’s been back in Gore, living with his mum Toni Dunn, for two weeks now.
“Probably about a week before I came home, they said to me, ‘Jayden, you are off home next Wednesday’. It was quite emotional… It’s been four months of my life, and my life’s changed. It was emotional, the drive home [to Gore] was a bit emotional.”
Broome is positive about his future.
He has plans to start public speaking at some point, and podcasting, sharing his personal story along the way.
For Broome, having a positive outlook is important for his recovery.
He says he’s seeing improvement in himself daily, and that is what he is focusing on.
“There were so many patients around me that I could feel they weren’t happy, and it is understandable, your life has changed dramatically. It can be quite depressing for people.
“But the more positive you are – I heard this from the nurses – the quicker you’ll be able to get out of hospital. That was me, for the 115 days [in hospital] I couldn’t eat, and I was still positive for those 115 days,” Broome says.
“Someone came into the hospital in Dunedin, and they had a daughter that had a brain injury. They said she is working now and doing what they used to do.
“It was encouraging that I will come right eventually. I will come back to normal… Originally, they said Jayden might be 75% of the same person; now it’s changed to he will be back, he’ll be fully back.”
While watching the movie Night of the Museum this week, there was a quote during that movie that Broome has latched onto and now attached to his life.
“Nothing is impossible. If it can be dreamed, it can be done,” is the quote.
Broome says the support he has had from a long list of people has played a significant role in helping him with that positive outlook.
“When I was in rehab, some of the nurses said to me I was the most popular room. People were coming in left, right, and centre. I love seeing people.”
“It meant a lot for everyone to come and see me. I can imagine it was pretty hard for them, because I was in a state and them having to see me like that.”
Included amongst the regular visitors was former Rugby Southland academy manager Scott Eade, who is now the Stags coach.
The pair had developed a strong bond before Broome’s fall, as he progressed from Gore to New Zealand Māori Under-18 representative.
“There were a lot of people that come and saw me. Scott Eade was one of them; he saw me four or five times, it meant a lot.”
The day before Stags players Sean Withy and Jack Taylor flew out to Europe with the All Blacks XV in November, they also visited Broome in hospital.
That was a boost for Broome.
Highlanders player Will Stodart also visited with the Ranfurly Shield after Otago’s victory last year. Southland had won the Shield earlier in the season.
“I couldn’t talk, but it was unreal to get to see the Southland names on there.”
His University Rugby Club in Dunedin has also been very supportive. Aaron Withy – a community development officer at the club – was one of those who made multiple visits, along with others from his club.
“They dropped off my jersey I played in, the No 7 jersey. They put it in a frame, and it is on my wall.”
Jayden Broome playing for the University Rugby Club in Dunedin in 2025.
The list of visitors continues, whether it be teachers from his days at Gore High School, or those from Te Rangihiroa College, his student hall that he was staying in during his first year studying in Dunedin.
He is grateful for all of the support he has had, as well as the backing his family has received.
Broome says when it became obvious his mum Toni was going to be away from work for months to help in his recovery, her employers at Waitane assured her that her job would still be there when she returned.
When Broome spent time in Christchurch following the fall, his father, Darren, was there with him fulltime. Broome says his Dad’s employers at Eastern Concrete let him go without hesitation.
Gore, Southland, and New Zealand can be proud and inspired by the fight and positivity Broome has shown in his recovery.
A similar trait we saw from him on the sporting field.