In 2008 a great friend of mine had a catastrophic spinal injury - leaving him with movement above his shoulder only. However he has not let that destroy his life. Through hard work and dedication to his rehabilitation plus the support of spinal injury specialists he now leads an amazingly fulfilling life - even playing golf again (still better than me!).

Aspire provides advice for those who have recently suffered a spinal injury, including welfare benefits advice, temporary accessible housing and help with independent living, access to assistive technology and assistance with fund raising for essential specialist equipment.

Having seen what a benefit both rehabilitation and help to get back in to the community can bring to people who suffer a spinal injury first hand I have been raising money for Aspire for the last 12 years - running two marathons and attending countless golf days plus other events. 

It is now time for my greatest challenge in fundraising for Aspire - swimming the Channel as part of a relay team. Those of you who know me well know I swim like a (heavy) stone so this really is a tough event. We swim next summer so I am going to be spending the winter freezing my bits off swimming in the Thames and local lakes or hours swimming up and down the local swimming pool (when it gets too cold!)

I'm also easily the worst swimmer in my team who are a group of awe inspiring ladies that spend their free time willingly swimming in the sea!

Any support you can give both me and Aspire is therefore greatly appreciated!!!

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