Racing wheelchair
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Hello
My name is Millie Swinchin Rew I’m 20 and a wheelchair racer with the Weir Archer academy in Kingston and I am looking for funding to be able to purchase my own racing chair. Currently I’m fortunate to be able to use an old spare chair that the club has but the chair is to big for me and the wrong shape for my body as all the chairs are custom built for each individual making the chair I’m in at the moment is uncomfortable to uses and not letting me perform to the best of my abilities.
I have been racing for the last year and training several times a week both at Kingsmeadow athletics track and in Richmond park. This year I’ve competed in a range of competitions including the Surrey disability championships winning gold in the 100m, 200m and 400m. As well as several competitions at Stoke Mandeville the home of the Paralympics and in Newham. Over the course of this season I’ve knocked 8 seconds of my 100m time so my pb is now 23.42s and 26s of my 800m time to now be at 2:57.10 as well as improving my times at all distances.
My condition is called FND functional neurological disorder for me symptoms started at 12 with an internally rotated ankle and hip that slowly got progressively worse from almost unnoticeable to the point where I couldn’t run or climb steps, but I tried to live as normal a life as possible. It took many years and an awful lot of hospital trips with a lot of doctors saying they had never seen anything like this in their career to finally get diagnosed. There is no known cure currently for FND and the main treatment method is multi- disciplinary rehabilitation and Botox injections.
However, at 18 I went headfirst down a flight of stairs I had to be extracted from my home by a team of emergency workers and was rushed into St Georges hospital in tooting as a major trauma case with a suspected spinal injury. I was very lucky to have no serious physical injuries, but it had set off my FND significantly. I then spent the next 8 months in hospital 3 in St Georges and 5 in the neuro rehabilitation centre in Queen Marys in Roehampton having physio and occupational therapy every day and learning how to do everything again. My condition now has left me with no muscle control at all below the waist but with dystonia in my legs causing them to be fixed in abnormal positions. I also have a weakened core making sitting upright difficult and weakness and motor control problems in my arms. I also have both motor and vocal tics which causes me to make noises and my upper body to make violent movements that I can’t control which can occur at any time all of which causes many difficulties both with in racing and in day to day life.
When I left hospital, I couldn’t go back to the family home as it was not wheelchair accessible and could not have been adapted to meet my needs. So, I moved into an adapted bungalow that just so happened to be around the corner from the Kingsmeadow track. One of the few good things that came out of this situation. I found out about Weir Archer originally through my little brother seeing the posters at the track when he went down and saying I should give it a go.
Finding racing for me has been an incredible experience and I feel so lucky to have such an incredible club which has become more like an extended family in my local community. After all of this happened finding other young people in similar situations to myself was so nice to no longer feel like the only one as in hospital I was by far always the youngest person there as most of the other patients were in there 60s and at a very different point in life to me. Weir Archer are an incredible support network and the other athletes are brilliant examples to me of how to live life to the full from a chair which I really needed to see. It is amazing to see that this incredible and positive experience has come out of such a horrific situation and that such amazing things can still be achieved in spite of everything we’ve gone through.
The benefit to my mental wellbeing has been huge and being able to get back in to sport has allowed me to get back to doing something I have always loved to do even if now it’s done in a slightly different way. Racing has also had a huge impact on my fitness from when I first got in a racing chair I could barely push a lap after having spent the best part of a year in a hospital bed and it was completely exhausting to now being able to do 5km as an easy warm up and being able to race and train with some of the best athletes in the world even though there’s no way I’m keeping up with most of them yet. Racing has also been a great source of physio helping to keep my arms strong allowing me to be more independent in my day chair and have much more endurance to be able to push throughout the whole day.
I am applying for funding to cover at least some of the cost of a chair as being a university student funds are tight. I am also having more difficulties than many athletes finding funding as my condition is comparatively rare compared to cerebral palsy or a spinal cord injury which many other athletes have and there is no charities that specifically funds for FND.
Your support would be massively appreciated.
Thank you
Millie
My name is Millie Swinchin Rew I’m 20 and a wheelchair racer with the Weir Archer academy in Kingston and I am looking for funding to be able to purchase my own racing chair. Currently I’m fortunate to be able to use an old spare chair that the club has but the chair is to big for me and the wrong shape for my body as all the chairs are custom built for each individual making the chair I’m in at the moment is uncomfortable to uses and not letting me perform to the best of my abilities.
I have been racing for the last year and training several times a week both at Kingsmeadow athletics track and in Richmond park. This year I’ve competed in a range of competitions including the Surrey disability championships winning gold in the 100m, 200m and 400m. As well as several competitions at Stoke Mandeville the home of the Paralympics and in Newham. Over the course of this season I’ve knocked 8 seconds of my 100m time so my pb is now 23.42s and 26s of my 800m time to now be at 2:57.10 as well as improving my times at all distances.
My condition is called FND functional neurological disorder for me symptoms started at 12 with an internally rotated ankle and hip that slowly got progressively worse from almost unnoticeable to the point where I couldn’t run or climb steps, but I tried to live as normal a life as possible. It took many years and an awful lot of hospital trips with a lot of doctors saying they had never seen anything like this in their career to finally get diagnosed. There is no known cure currently for FND and the main treatment method is multi- disciplinary rehabilitation and Botox injections.
However, at 18 I went headfirst down a flight of stairs I had to be extracted from my home by a team of emergency workers and was rushed into St Georges hospital in tooting as a major trauma case with a suspected spinal injury. I was very lucky to have no serious physical injuries, but it had set off my FND significantly. I then spent the next 8 months in hospital 3 in St Georges and 5 in the neuro rehabilitation centre in Queen Marys in Roehampton having physio and occupational therapy every day and learning how to do everything again. My condition now has left me with no muscle control at all below the waist but with dystonia in my legs causing them to be fixed in abnormal positions. I also have a weakened core making sitting upright difficult and weakness and motor control problems in my arms. I also have both motor and vocal tics which causes me to make noises and my upper body to make violent movements that I can’t control which can occur at any time all of which causes many difficulties both with in racing and in day to day life.
When I left hospital, I couldn’t go back to the family home as it was not wheelchair accessible and could not have been adapted to meet my needs. So, I moved into an adapted bungalow that just so happened to be around the corner from the Kingsmeadow track. One of the few good things that came out of this situation. I found out about Weir Archer originally through my little brother seeing the posters at the track when he went down and saying I should give it a go.
Finding racing for me has been an incredible experience and I feel so lucky to have such an incredible club which has become more like an extended family in my local community. After all of this happened finding other young people in similar situations to myself was so nice to no longer feel like the only one as in hospital I was by far always the youngest person there as most of the other patients were in there 60s and at a very different point in life to me. Weir Archer are an incredible support network and the other athletes are brilliant examples to me of how to live life to the full from a chair which I really needed to see. It is amazing to see that this incredible and positive experience has come out of such a horrific situation and that such amazing things can still be achieved in spite of everything we’ve gone through.
The benefit to my mental wellbeing has been huge and being able to get back in to sport has allowed me to get back to doing something I have always loved to do even if now it’s done in a slightly different way. Racing has also had a huge impact on my fitness from when I first got in a racing chair I could barely push a lap after having spent the best part of a year in a hospital bed and it was completely exhausting to now being able to do 5km as an easy warm up and being able to race and train with some of the best athletes in the world even though there’s no way I’m keeping up with most of them yet. Racing has also been a great source of physio helping to keep my arms strong allowing me to be more independent in my day chair and have much more endurance to be able to push throughout the whole day.
I am applying for funding to cover at least some of the cost of a chair as being a university student funds are tight. I am also having more difficulties than many athletes finding funding as my condition is comparatively rare compared to cerebral palsy or a spinal cord injury which many other athletes have and there is no charities that specifically funds for FND.
Your support would be massively appreciated.
Thank you
Millie
Organizer
Millie Swinchin Rew
Organizer
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