This is where the staff of the Reeve Foundation is sharing up-to-the-minute information and putting some context around the news affecting the spinal cord injury and paralysis community. Not to mention insight into what's going on here at the Foundation.
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Imagine traveling 30,000 by wheelchair!
Posted by
JLoFriday, January 13, 2012
Of all the marathon athletes I am surrounded by with Team Reeve, I still could not imagine running a marathon. That's 26.2 miles. Heck, a half-marathon at 13.1 miles I still think is strenuous. So I commend greatly any one who completes these and pushes their body to the limit.
But 26.2 miles isn't much to Andy Campbell. He plans on traveling 30,000 BY WHEELCHAIR! The full expedition (UK to China and Alaska to Chile) will take two years. adventure-journal.com caught up with Andy to ask him some questions about the trip.
Was there a definable eureka moment when you suddenly thought, ‘By Jove! That’s it! I’m going to go around the world!’?
It’s always been in the back of my mind. I think everyone dreams about traveling around the world some day and I was no different, but ironically It wasn’t until after I became paralyzed that I had the freedom to think about it seriously. I’d joined the Army straight from school, which gave me a huge taste for adventure but I’d never had the chance to go out and really explore the world on my own terms. So when I was medically discharged following my injury I decided to take a year out and have a look around. Somehow, what was meant to be just a year turned into eight years of adventures and travels that have given me the experience and knowledge to make going around the world in a wheelchair attainable. Last spring, just as I was getting ready to commit to the idea of going around the world I hurt my shoulder skiing and couldn’t even push a wheelchair at times. I thought that was the end of the dream and that my shoulder would never be up to the challenge, but as I went through rehab and slowly recovered, I began dreaming again. The day after scans showed my shoulder was fully recovered I went out and did ten miles in the wheelchair for the first time in months. Before I’d gone five miles I knew I was going to go around the world.
Read about his training and how you can get involved in the trip too!
Janelle
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