Lawn bowls, community work and wheelchair sports
Bronze medal at first try to Vic HSPer in lawn bowls tournament
From the Warrnambool Standard…
Alison East from rural Cavendish in western Victoria had a ball as her team took out the major prize at the Multi-Disability Lawn Bowls National Championships in Mackay, Queensland.
East, who is playing for Victoria for the first time this year, won bronze in the B7/8 (disability catergory) women’s singles after a 21-12 victory over teammate Janet Morrison at Souths Suburban Bowls Club in Mackay.
The Balmoral Bowls Club player said she couldn’t take the smile off her face because it was so good to be at the championships.
“To be up there against the best players in Australia with a disability and they were also so kind – it was an amazing experience,” she said.
The 60-year-old, who used to play golf, started playing at Hamilton Bowls Club 15 years ago and hasn’t looked back.
She said she enjoyed companionship of the sport.
East said she had Hereditary Spastic Paraparesis, which started affecting her legs and feet about 10 years ago.
She played in the B7/8 singles which is for women who are able to walk without any aid.
She said she sometimes needed a walking stick to get from one end of the green to the other.
SOURCE: The Standard, MAY 30 2019
by Brian Allen
Cavendish bowler takes home medal and cup from national champs
Find full article here: https://www.standard.net.au/story/6192002/alison-bowls-her-way-to-success-with-victoria/
HSPer does park cleanup and community buys new wheelchair
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — No matter the weather, nearly every day you’ll see Chris Collier cleaning up Gaisman Park in the Highland Heights community — and he does it all in his wheelchair.
Now some neighbors are giving back to man who is giving so much to his community.
“Having this space to even just visit is the most greatest anti-depressant God has ever made,” Collier said at Gaisman Park. “I am just trying to make the best out of it for as many people as I can.”
Collier has an extremely rare, hereditary form of muscular dystrophy called hereditary spastic paraplegic.
When Collier moved to the neighborhood in 2013, he started Friends of Gaisman Park. He leads the charge on litter pickup, planting flowers and painting bike racks and benches.
What he doesn’t really talk about is how his wheelchair makes his cleanup efforts difficult. It’s had countless repairs, and it’s hard to maneuver around the park’s terrain.
“Why don’t we get our city, our community, our neighbors involved in giving back to this person who has given so much to this community?” asked Christina Crutchfield with the Highland Heights Development Cooperation.
SOURCE: News Channel 3, Memphis. POSTED MARCH 1, 2019
Neighbors hope to buy new wheelchair for man committed to keeping park clean
By Jessica Gertler
Find full article here: https://wreg.com/2019/03/01/neighbors-hope-to-buy-new-wheelchair-for-man-committed-to-keeping-park-clean/
UK boy’s dreams – inspired by Lily Rice
A fundraiser is being organised to help a Peterborough child who will lose the use of his legs to get a stunt wheelchair so he can “fulfil his dreams”. Dylan Wiseman (11) was diagnosed with Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP) in 2014.
Dylan, who lives in Hampton Hargate, UK, began using a wheelchair in 2017 for going beyond a 30 minute walk to slow down the muscle loss, but his long-term diagnosis is for him to lose the use of his legs.
He dreams of following in the footsteps of Lily Rice who also has HSP and was the first girl in Europe to complete a backflip in her wheelchair.
SOURCE: Peterborough Telegraph, Published: Friday 15 February 2019
by Joel Lamy
Fundraiser to buy Peterborough child who will lose use of his legs a stunt wheelchair to ‘fulfil dreams’
Find full article here: https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/people/fundraiser-to-buy-peterborough-child-who-will-lose-use-of-his-legs-a-stunt-wheelchair-to-fulfil-dreams-1-8811917
Ian’s rare reality – UK Paralympian with HSP