I acquired a left hemiplegia in 1973 when I was just nine years old.  I have lived with the prejudices, knock-backs, and ignorance of what my condition actually does to my physical abilities for 41 years.  A fall in 2012 that broke my right heel forced me to develop my strength again on my left side and, inspired by the overall improvement, I had the idea of taking part in the Clipper Round the World Race.

As comedian Adam Hills has observed - I am crazy for trying to do this but still brave and inspired.  Thanks Adam!

Latest Challenge News! 

March 2015

Well I am training for one mile in the April swimathon for Marie Curie Foundation and for HemiHelp.  I am amazed when I look back on my first clumsy attempts to swim just a couple of years ago and how I can now pull myself almost a metre per stroke in deep water.  If I can lose more weight I will be less of a barrel and more like a torpedo in the water!!!  Maybe I should also do a sponsored slim!

I see that the First Mate on my training yacht at Clipper Ventures is one of the twelve captains now named for the 15/16 race.  I'd love to be on his crew as I found him to be a good guide for me.  Good luck Max!

29th August 2014

Well I have completed a cycle through the level 1 training and I have had a tough time to be sure!

Along with eight other applicants I was in a great group of competitors and I am impressed with the grit and determination they all displayed.

I unfortunately didn't manage to remain at the top of my game throughout however and will have to work on balance and body core training to be better able to cope with moving around above and below deck.  A couple of falls and wobbles on deck were nothing unusual but I did manage to fall on my left hand at one point and bend my fingers back a touch so it made it painful to wind winches with both hands after this. 

Undeterred overall however, I will do some other challenges and routine exercises to help improve my balance and co-ordination and then look at making a second attempt.

I am acutely aware of the need to be safe.  The training was undertaken on the 68 foot boats that were used in the 2011/12 race.  These have a deck that has a few rise and fall portions whereas the new 70 foot boats first used in the 13/14 race have a very flat deck.  It seemed to me that the 70 foots would be better for me, but there is a problem in that there are no intermediate places to rest as the boat tacks so it is vitally important to be able to move very quickly into a safe position.

Well, I will have to give this some time to sink in (rather than sink in the sea!) and have a chance to see if I can overcome the mobility issues.

Watch this space to see what happens!  Thanks again to all of my supporters.  It was encouraging when I was being bounced about below deck to know that so many have shown me such understanding!

20th July 2014

Having been as St Katherine's Dock on Saturday 12th July to see the yachts return, I am delighted to have been unexpectedly invited to talk on camera briefly about why I am taking part in the 15/16 Race.  I am starting my training on 22nd August and will hopefully get all three sessions in before May 2015, when the initial crew allocations are made.

I have learned for myself the hard way how to make friends, develop as part of a team and to motivate and be motivated for success.  I am keen to acquire the added discipline needed to face any adversity in a calm and incisive manner.  To be able to make a quick decision and act on it, keeping it under review and when appropriate take the lead from someone else who may have made the wrong decision but be able to do so without making them feel a fool.

Congratulations to EVERY single sailor in the 13/14 race and I admire you all for the contributions you made that have reinforced my decision to do this.

Sports Relief 2014

What a success!  I managed to shave around six minutes off my previous time for the 1.5km and I am getting more and more confident in the water.  I now proudly possess a medal for this event!

My wife, Karen, took a short video of me swimming away from her near the very end - she too had swam the event but made much better time than me - and I was able to see my rather odd kick in my breast stroke.  My left foot, the side affected by hemiplegia, seems to come out of the water, suggesting that I am not tucking my knee up enough as I prepare for the outward stroke and I am probably losing power this way.  Something to work on I think.  

In preparation for this event I have been trying out other strokes and can now get the rhythm right for a steady front crawl, although I struggle with distance in this stroke.  That said, I am sure that in a few weeks I will make sufficient progress to be able to manage full lengths and soon be looking at combining it with breast stroke to get through another swimathon with a faster overall time.  Still working on the butterfly - a long way from that technique being licked I fear, but I have made a dent in my backstroke, which was something I always struggled with because of the backward arm movement and shoulder-lock on my left side.  I seem to have overcome that problem too.

So for all those worried parents with children hampered by hemiplegia, have faith in the power of conductive therapy - it does work and it can make it possible to bypass the neurological problems that have caused the hemiplegia.

Please spread the word!!!

Whistler January 2014!

Well I have achieved the objective and completed a green run!

I made it down 'The Yellow Brick Road' at Blackcomb and I have solved the problem with boots thanks to those great guys at Salomon and the wonderful skills of Kyle at their Whistler store! Thanks also to all the staff at Four Seasons Whistler for their great support and encouragement during my stay in Beautiful British Columbia.

Challenge Update -

Now I am really buzzing.  Clicked my way through the 5km total swimming distance as promised I would do before New Year this morning (22/12/2013) at the Hornchurch Sports Centre.  I will true and work out my next swimming target and let you know.

Hemiplegia is incurrable, or so they say, and whilst I am not cured, the concept of 'conductive therapy' is a boon.  Can I reassure parents with hemiplegic children that it is possible for the hemiplegia to be challenegd and overcome not only by the child's own determination to do things his or her own way but also by retraining other parts of the brain to send the commands to the affected limbs.

There is hope - it has taken me nearly 41 years now to get this far, but I am now fully weight-bearing on my left heel and my left leg is getting stronger all the time.  For me it took a broken right heel to force my left side to get back into shape, and hopefully less traumatic methods will help the youngsters to get a quicker solution.

Well I am doing much better than I thought at this!  Some interest coming from corporate sponsors - great news - but also, and most significantly, I am possibly about to reach my 5km target this Saturday - well before the New Year.  Since I managed to get 1,05km in last Saturday, I only have to push another length this weekend to clock up 1.1km and hit the 5k zone!  FABULOUS!  It is starting to look like I am going to have to aim fo 1.5k each weekend in the New Year, and I will certainly have to do that in March as I take part in the Comic Relief Swimathon.  Of course, donations for both Comic Relief and HemiHelp are welcome.

I am so encouraged by the kind words, support and donations from so many people, and pledges of support in hand as well.  Thank you all.

Open to suggestions for other challenges too!

Started the Challenge!!!  Now swimming 500m each Saturday morning and looking to complete a distance of 5km by New Year.  Come and see me 6am each Saturday morning at Basildon Sporting Village Olympic pool. 

Please try and be generous as I am so thrilled to have been fortunate enough to shake off some of my paralysis and do something to help and inspire the children of today who struggle to adapt to a life with hemiplegia.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.  Please keep coming back and checking the updates, as I will keep track here of my training for this event and links to other relevant information about my endeavours before the big race in 2016 from the USA to the UK on board a stripped down 70 foot racing yacht with twenty crew members all eager to be first into port.

About me

I acquired a left hemiplegia in 1973 when I was just nine years old.  I was knocked down by a car on the way home from school and was put into a coma for a week.  When I came round, I was unable to straighten out my left arm, and my left hand was constantly held as a fist.  My left leg was stiff and my foot had dropped.  A few weeks later my toes curled under as well, making it impossible for me to walk.

I had a tough time with three operations in as many years that made on modest improvements for me but when I went to secondary school I was isolated because I could not join in with sports activities.

Ten years after the accident, and with some determination, I managed to get a job to train as a building surveyor.  This would eventually require me to climb ladders and walk over scaffolds and roof slopes even though my centre of balance was very much over my right leg.  But I made progress and became a chartered building surveyor in 1994, twenty-one years after that fateful day.

By 2003 I had lived with my condition for three-quarters of my life and I had learned to adapt really well, but I was still not confident about my fitness.  However, in 2004 I did a skydive over the Bay of Islands in New Zealand from 12,000ft and realised  that I could actually do things I dared not try a few years before.

In 2007 I tried to ski – and came away after three days of constantly toppling over with hips and thighs with black and blue bruising and a dent in my pride.  Somewhere there a some pictures to prove it!

I had another go skiing in 2008 but my feet were still not steady and although I managed to stay up and not fall over, I never got off the nursery slopes and I was feeling a little crest-fallen.  Then in 2012 I had a fall from a ladder at work and broke my right heel.  For a short while I feared I may again face years of pain as my left leg struggled to take the strain now my right foot was in plaster and I couldn’t just sit around for seven weeks.  When the plaster came off my right leg and my foot in particular, were so weak that I had to use my left leg a lot.  This actually hammered my left foot down and I was walking for first time in forty years with BOTH feet fully on the floor and my left heel actually taking my weight!

What I am doing now

Well here I am again!  Now getting fitter and healthier as I approach my 50th birthday in November 2013 I am determined to make sure that I can make a difference and give inspiration to the thousands of children and young adults who suffer mild to severe hemiplegia either from birth or from a childhood accident like mine. 

I am belatedly learning to swim.  My disfigurement has always made me feel insecure in water, but I have overcome that now and with the help of John at the Hornchurch Sportcentre in Hornchurch I have made good progress getting from being buoyed up with a float suit through to someone who can, slowly but surely, make an effort at front crawl, breaststroke and now even backstroke, despite a limit in the range of motion in my left shoulder.   I am planning, as part of the challenge and once I am able to do complete lengths without breaks, to include sponsored lengths for this same cause.

I have also dashed down to the Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead and with the great assistance of Kirsty Alder I have taken my first steps again on skis and despite realising that I am out of condition at the moment, I can spread my weight better on the skis now, and I reckon a few more lessons with Kirsty ought to make it easier for me to take on a green slope in Whistler in January 2014 if I am able to add that to my list of fitness and endurance trials I want to take to build up my fitness for the long voyage under sail.

The big event at the end of my training

I am inspired by the Clipper Round The World yacht race organised by Clipper Ventures in Gosport, Hampshire who are offering me a chance to train for and be part of a crew in the 2015/2016 race.  Training for that race will begin a month after the 13/14 race finishes in August 2014.  Meanwhile, I am going to train with Hamble in Southampton from August 2013 with the aim of recording all my experiences and milestones towards becoming a really useful crew member for the 15/16 race.

Might your employer be willing to back me?

I am presently only looking to compete in Leg 8, from the east coast of USA to Ireland, Holland and back to the UK as this alone is a very expensive undertaking.  I am likely to need in excess of £15,000 to do my part, and obviously I am looking for corporate support to assist me but if the support and my own finances hold and if I reach my first target of £10,000 raised for HemiHelp before September 2014, I may well try and take part in other legs if I can also raise the entry fees for these additions.  If you can provide me with some assistance in that regard, perhaps because your employer might be willing to assist, get in touch with me at sail52@mail.com and we can chat about what promotional assistance I can provide to your employer in return for their support.  Please note that all donations via this page go straight to HemiHelp.

Follow me, encourage me, spur me on!

Follow my progress from this page and please donate as much as you can to HemiHelp to show you care about what I am trying to do and your support for my determination not to spend my fifties sitting in a chair watching sport – but actually taking part in it.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.