Brisbane Olympic gymnast Lisa Skinner who fell during a Cirque du Soleil performance on Sunday will be fitted with a brace on Monday to keep her body from moving, her mother says.
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The 35-year-old was performing the aerial hoop solo act during Cirque du Soleil's Kooza performance at Skygate when she fell, plummeting to the floor just before 2pm.
Shocked audience members watched as crew rushed to the stage to treat the Albany Creek woman.
Paramedics rushed Ms Skinner, who was stable and conscious, to Royal Brisbane Hospital where she remained in the emergency ward for a number of hours.
Her mother, Anne Skinner, told River 94.9 on Monday her daughter was "doing well" and had suffered a C1 fracture in her neck and a broken arm.
"Today she is going to be fitted with what they call a halo brace to keep her head still ... it will take about 6-12 weeks to heal," she said.
"Her arms and legs work which is the main thing and she survived.
"She should recover but it will just be a long, hard road at this point."
Cirque du Soleil said the cast and crew's "thoughts and love" were with Ms Skinner following her fall, adding she was expected to leave hospital "within a few days."
"We are happy to report that Lisa is currently stable and in good condition," Cirque said in a statement on Monday.
"At this time, our priority is on supporting Lisa and her family so they can focus on her recovery."
Ms Skinner said she hadn't seen what happened but understood her daughter had attempted to catch the hoop around the hip area but it had landed lower than expected and she couldn't grab it.
"There was nothing except air after that," she told radio host Paul Campion.
Audience member Teagan Barratt, who had front row seats, posted on Facebook about the incident, which she said was "one of the scariest things" she had ever witnessed.
"She was still and face down and her head was the first thing that made the impact on falling which was terrifying," she wrote.
"When they supported her and moved her, you could see that she was breathing. That was I think the most relieving part of the whole ordeal."
The Olympian began her gymnastics career at the age of six and kicked off her international career in 1995 before joining Cirque du Soleil in 2010.
She had been on a break in the United States when she was asked to join Kooza for a few months while the aerial hoops performer took a few months off.
Kooza's aerial hoops act was her first solo performance with Cirque du Soleil and was also the first time she had performed for her hometown.
- with Rachel Clun
