Happy New Year - A 2016 Review and News for 2017
2016 has truly been a fantastic year from both a personal and athlete standpoint.
On a personal level, I finished my degree and graduated with a very high mark. I moved into my own flat and adopted another furry family member – my new cat Rio. Earlier this year, my surgeon agreed to amputate my foot and despite multiple challenges and disappointments, it finally happened in September.
As I go into the New Year, I am gaining confidence on my new prosthetic leg and looking forward to the start of the athletics season in April. I am now waiting for my stump to be surgically fixed, which will hopefully be in a few months. The surgeons have decided that they would like more healing time before changing my stump again. This surgery will simply re-attach the muscle back onto the bone and allow more protection for the currently exposed bone, which is very uncomfortable at the moment. The initial amputation so far as severely increased my quality of life and has really made my year.
A few weeks ago, I gained a new sponsor – Coco5 (http://coco5.co.uk/). They are very keen to support me through my journey and kindly supply me with well-needed hydration. I have been using their products for a few weeks now and I can truly say they are fantastic! I am drinking their ‘Tropical Passion’ flavour with every workout and I really feel the benefit. I am really looking forward to working with them in the future.
In November, I started working with a few other professional athletes who are also working towards Tokyo 2020. I am working with a young visually impaired sprinter who is the top in the Country for his age, a wheelchair racer who achieved a silver medal in the 2016 Rio Paralympics and a female able-bodied hammer thrower who is placed within the top 10 in the Country. I find all of this very exciting. In the New Year, we are hoping to work together to inspire and motivate others through public speaking and visiting schools.
With a fantastic 2016 in the bag, I really hope that 2017 will be fantastic. I will be starting my first athletics season with an official classification and I can’t wait to jump in both feet first (even with one metal one).