Help Ruth Beat Cancer!

Hello, my name is Sally, and I am crowdfunding to raise funds for my fabulous friend Ruth Middleton. As you may know Ruth is disabled and is a full time, permanent wheelchair user following a road accident in 2000.

What you may not know is that Ruth has recently (in October 2021) been diagnosed with endometrial and uterine cancer and is in urgent need of lifesaving treatment. The first step should be an operation, but with previous operations requiring resuscitation and intensive care support, this will not be straightforward. To have the best chance of survival and recovery Ruth must be as physically fit as possible.

Ruth says `I am very lucky, I have brilliant friends, family, and neighbours / local community. I’m reluctant to ask for anything more than the love and support people offer and have offered for many years. But I do want to give myself the best possible chance of beating this cancer`.

Bolton Abbey

It is challenging trying to keep fit for anyone reliant on an electric wheelchair. Over the past two years, Ruth has taken advantage of many online exercise classes and investigated different options for equipment which would help. Her need for this has, with the cancer diagnosis, become immediate and much more urgent.

This is where we can all help. Ruth has found an ideal way to be able to build up her fitness in preparation for and following her cancer treatment.

Used by many disabled people the Mountain Trike is an all-terrain wheelchair which provides cardiovascular exercise. It will also further open up the outside world which Ruth so loves.

Propelling the chair using hand levers, Ruth will be able to build up her strength and increase her stamina, flexibility, and fitness daily. The powered option means that the trike can be used to travel further off the beaten track and to see the world even when experiencing pain and fatigue which may increase as Ruth’s treatment progresses.

There are numerous testimonials from people who have improved their fitness by regular use of their trike. Exercising using the trike means Ruth can access fields, hills, even beaches - Ruth has not been able to go onto a beach for two decades.

Ruth is very independent and loves exploring the Yorkshire Dales and Nidderdale where she lives but she also would love to join able bodied and disabled friends on the many hikes and rambles she currently cannot participate in.

The chair would need adapting for Ruth and would cost £7,500. Ruth needs this urgently, to try to get fitter to get through treatment. Treatment for her cancer will include a combination of surgery, radiotherapy and / or chemotherapy.

This which is where you, her friends, and the wider community, can help through your generous donations large or small.

Ruth says `if in the future I am ever unable to use this mountain trike I would like to donate it to Harrogate District Disabled People’s Forum for use by its members in and around Harrogate.’

This article is quite lengthy but if you would like to read Ruth’s story about her accident, the impact it has had on her life and how she has coped, read on.

1.The road accident and it’s life changing impact on Ruth

In 2000, as a pedestrian, Ruth was crossing Westminster Bridge when she was struck by a motorcyclist and then by London taxi which had no time to avoid her. She was critically ill and suffered devastating injuries. Following resuscitation and lifesaving support Ruth was in a coma on life support for several months. Kept alive on a ventilator, she also had to overcome penicillin resistant MRSA.

Ruth’s left leg was initially ‘saved,’ and metal inserted to fix it, but it was very badly devolved leading to years of plastic surgery, Lymphedema, and frequent serious infections. Other injuries included a severe traumatic brain injury, lung damage and multiple orthopaedic tissue injuries. Ruth needed the help of physios, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, counsellors, and specialist psychologist support. She had to relearn everything from new, including eating and talking, and eventually driving.

Ruth was determined to recover and made remarkable progress although it became apparent that long term, she would have reduced mobility and dexterity, extreme fatigue, constant pain, cognitive and emotional difficulties – including memory deficits including the rare developmental prosopagnosia – inability to recognise people’s faces.

In 2016 Ruth’s left leg was amputated through the knee. Due to infections and complications Ruth had five operations and three hospital admissions.

2.Exercise and Sport

Ruth’s main love, sport-wise, is tennis. She played a great deal prior to the accident. Determined to continue she purchased a tennis wheelchair and used to travel from Birmingham and then from Ilkley to Nottingham to train and play wheelchair tennis. She helped introduce wheelchair tennis at Ilkley tennis club where she played social tennis for several years with able-bodied members. Since the amputation Ruth has struggled to be able to play wheelchair tennis as her general health and disability make propelling the large, angled wheelchair almost impossible.

Pre- pandemic Ruth was playing boccia weekly with other wheelchair users which she enjoyed a great deal but because of the vulnerability of the group members the sessions have not resumed. Post pandemic Ruth has also been thwarted in terms of swimming. The hoist at the town’s swimming pool has been out of action until recently and Ruth is unable to go swimming on her own which is problematic in terms of social distancing. Ruth has travelled to the nearest dedicated swimming session for disabled people but as it is in York and about an hour each way the benefits of the swim are much reduced by resultant fatigue / cost of travel.

3.Ongoing need for care and support

Ruth’s health has remained a concern in the years since 2000. She has continued to need support including several hospital admissions. She relies on medication and must use a personal ventilator but has never let this stop her living an active and full life. Ruth says “I am aware that my health is compromised by my ongoing health issues – resulting from the accident. But I’m also aware that I am not as fit as I could be. Especially with shielding I’ve had less and less chance to exercise.”

4.Work life: Employment and volunteering

In March 2000 Ruth had been appointed in her `dream job` as Director of Social Inclusion in Warwickshire, a senior level management post working across health trusts and local government in the county. She was desperate to continue working but following her accident, she had to retire prematurely in Sept 2001 (Aged 37).

Ruth has always been involved in wide range of voluntary organisations. She was the first Chair of Birmingham LGBT Forum, a long-standing member of West Midlands L&G Switchboard responsible for running successful training programmes, a campaigner for AIDS/ HIV, a trustee of HIV/ AIDS Charities, a member and activist for Stonewall, a trustee of Birmingham Voluntary Sector Consortium, a founder of ‘switched on` a mental health organisation. Ruth was a confident, active public speaker, trainer, and a well-known and respected public figure.

Ruth moved back to Yorkshire in 2005, volunteering with a range of organisations including the Equity Centre, Otley Courthouse, Ilkley Literature Festival, Craven Mind, Headway, Barnardos (working with young unaccompanied asylum seekers).

When Ruth moved to Harrogate, she became involved with Harrogate District Disabled People’s Forum (she holds her post of vice chair) and local mental health groups. She is a ‘Lived Experience Advisor’ for Tees, Wear and Esk Valley NHS Trust. She volunteers for Healthwatch North Yorkshire and became a Patient Research Ambassador for Harrogate NHS Hospitals Trust.

Ruth has facilitated creative writing courses for people who are homeless and having housing difficulties. She has also taught memoir writing for people experiencing mental distress through Converge at York St John University.

5.The Pandemic

Ruth was vulnerable and at high risk of extreme illness during the pandemic and shielded on advice of consultants.

Although staying at home alone Ruth used the time to develop her writing skills and began to offer online creative writing courses for diverse groups including Leeds LGBTQ+ the Community Consortium and Converge. Ruth’s students included groups of amputees and people with head injuries. Ruth works for the Open University as a Lived Experience Advisor and as a Pride of Place volunteer she helps advise on care options for a new LGBTQ+ housing project.

6.Recent Diagnosis and Decisions

Ruth’s life has changed again very recently as following investigations and consultations she was diagnosed as having Uterine and Endometrial cancers at the end of October 2021. She is still awaiting decisions on her treatment plan but overcoming this will be another major challenge.

Ruth decided to try to save up and to look to raise funds however her income is extremely limited. She has a small NHS Pension and relies on Personal Independence Payments plus Employment and Support Allowance. Her Open University and work for TEWV NHS is permitted work.

As can be seen by the above activities Ruth lives life to the full as much as her physical and health limitations allow. This has at times included going zip wiring and potholing at Benrigg! Ruth is an inspiring person and a fabulous friend to many people countrywide. She teaches creative writing and loves being out in the fresh air going wheeling in the countryside near Harrogate where she lives and in the Yorkshire Dales.

Bendrigg

7.Benefits of the Mountain Trike

As a full time, permanent wheelchair user, Ruth has felt very frustrated about the challenges of exercising. In her quest to be able to enjoy the outdoors, she has linked into Experience Community who work in Huddersfield area and promote disabled inclusion in the countryside. She has researched lots of different equipment but only recently found a chair which offers the opportunity to exercise and allows access a much wider range of outside spaces in the form of the Mountain Trike.

Ruth has spoken to many people who use mountain trikes and other hand bikes. She has had several trials on different mobility equipment and has used the mountain trike successfully both manually and with the battery assist. The mountain trike offers cardiovascular exercise that Ruth can do on her own from home. She lives near to bridleways and footpaths so there is plenty of scope for exercising. The re-chargeable battery means that she can travel on the mountain trike to many places and then join her friends on regular rambles and walks.

The mountain trike is compact and lightweight. She can put this equipment onto the lift at the back of her van and can travel with both the trike and the wheelchair too if necessary.

Please help Ruth to get fit in the great outdoors and BEAT CANCER!