Most of you who know me will know of the huge impact that Back Up has had on me over the past 12 years since I broke my neck snowboarding in Scotland.  I consider myself very lucky to still be involved with the charity that transformed my perceptions of living with a spinal cord injury and made me realise that life wasn't over.

Having worked as a volunteer and paid member of staff at Back Up for the past 10 and a half years I witness daily the impact of our peer-led wheelchair skills training, mentoring and activity courses.  The organisation has grown enormously in that time and we now reach more people affected by spinal cord injury than ever before.

When I was lying in bed in the early days after my accident, I never imagined that I would be able to live such a full and active life.  The fact that I am taking on this cycling challenge illustrates how far things have come since those dark days back in April 2000.  I have been training on my handbike throughout the winter and have spent numerous hours doing circuits of Richmond Park.  The coast to coast route across Devon which we are undertaking in May is much further than anything I have attempted before and includes some pretty nasty looking hills through Dartmoor.  Tom will be my cycle buddy for the trip, supporting, encouraging and (if the hills get too steep) giving me the occasional push or pull!  I'm looking forward to the challenge, but I know I'll need all the support I can get, so please dig deep to support me and Tom and raise some much needed funds to carry on Back Up's vital work.

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