Lizzie reaches for the sky for charity
Britain's top woman paratriathlete, who was treated for her spinal injuries in Shropshire, will face her latest challenge at the weekend - a charity skydive.
Lizzie Tench, who competed for Team England in the Commonwealth Games in Australia in the summer, is raising money for the Spinal Injuries Association, to give something back for the support she has received.
The 43-year-old lives across the Shropshire border in Cheshire, but regularly uses the Trimart swim sessions at the Mere in Ellesmere for her training. She says the association was there for her as she tried to come to terms with her life changing injuries while at the spinal injuries centre at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Gobowen and when she went home.
"When I woke up on 17 March 2012, I was fit, well and able-bodied," she said.
"By lunchtime, I was in an air ambulance being air lifted to a trauma unit because I was too badly injured to make the journey by road. I had been hit on my bicycle by an overtaking driver who hadn’t even bothered to stop to check whether I had survived.
"I had broken my back in two places, five ribs, my nose and cheekbone, and damaged my eye socket and spleen. I had lacerations and extensive bruising. My cycling helmet was cracked, punctured and dented - better that than my skull.
"Later that day, I was told I was paralysed; although I already knew it. I had known from the second that I came to a stop at the side of the road after flying through the air, clinging tightly on to tiny blades of grass, as if that would somehow save me.
"That’s how it was for me and for thousands of others like me – everything you have taken for granted your whole life snatched away in an instant. I had to re-learn everything, down to the basics of getting dressed and going to the toilet. Life is never the same again."
With her own determination and help from the Spinal Injuries Association, Lizzie decided to make something positive from the horrendous injuries.
"I lost my job as a social worker, but I started volunteering with newly-injured people with spinal cord injuries, mentoring and teaching wheelchair skills.
"I tried just about every adaptive sport it is possible to try, and in 2014 I became an elite athlete. competing for Great Britain in Paratriathlon from 2014-2018."
She has been British champion for the past four years, was European champion and silver medalist int he World championships in 2016.
"I have decided I want to give back to Spinal Injuries Association by doing something incredibly scary and exhilarating. I am going to jump out of a plane and do a tandem skydive."
People can sponsor her at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lizzietenchskydive.
"It is estimated that over 1000 people in the UK are injured or diagnosed with a spinal cord injury every year and the mews that you may never be able to walk again, or even have control of basic bodily functions is devastating. Spine injured people, their families and friends will also have to come to terms with the psychological impact of sustaining such an injury, which affects every aspect of their own lives, and of those closest to them." she said.
"The Spinal Injuries Association shows people that they are not alone, and that with the right support and advice a fulfilled life is possible."
