My Experience

At the age of 6 months I developed Retinoblastoma, a form of eye cancer which took my left eye and most of the sight from my right.

Coping with this up to the age of 7 was fine, but then the teasing started. The other children would tease me about my thick glasses and curly hair. Obviously my hair style was fixable, but I couldn’t do without the glasses.

This teasing made me very conscious about the way I looked and knocked my confidence right down.

At that point my parents found the sport of Judo and my life was about to change. They took me to a local club and introduced me to the coach. When they explained about my eye sight problems, his response was also something that would have an effect on the rest of my life. “So what” he said, “come on the mat and give it a go”.

Three months later the teasing stopped, not because I physically started fighting back, but because my confidence was returning. I was learning to walk away and not let things get to me so much.

Back when I first started Judo I learnt a very valuable lesson. BECAUSE I LOOK DIFFERENT IT DOESN’T MEAN I AM. If only children today thought the same.

Since that day, my life has completely changed. I now have the confidence to compete for Great Britain at the highest level and stand up in front of audiences, telling my story and hoping to help someone else make a success of their life.

Some of my best results include. World Championship Gold, European Championship Gold and Silver at the Athens Paralympic Games.