This Floats My Boat: Project Report

My two passions are sailing and self-management support, and last year I got the opportunity to run a project that combined the two! It took the most inordinate amount of work and really tested me. But I am really proud of the outcomes of the project and the steep learning curve that I've been on. 

The aim of the project was to extend the opportunity to sail through ‘peer to peer’ support for people with severe disabilities/long term health problems across Dorset, working with Chesil Sailability sailors, health and wellbeing groups and the ‘My Health My Way’ service, so supporting people to develop their confidence and therefore their ability to self-manage and take up and maintain healthy behaviours.

Sink or Swim... or Sail!

Sailing was a central piece of the jigsaw of my life. Being on the water, socialising with sailors and everything about it defined me. Following a particularly bad relapse triggered by a neck injury that happened whilst in the middle of the Solent, my doctors (who incidentally didn't sail) said a categorical NO to sailing. The jigsaw that made up my life was falling apart.  

From where they were sitting, and having had to pick up the pieces of me being transferred from a boat in the marina to dry land then whizzed with blue lights into A&E strapped to a C-spine board unable to move or speak, sailing seemed risky. I agreed with them. 

But I also began to realise there was a risk to my mental health if I didn't go sailing, as I plunged into despair and depression. Then I watched the Paralympics, and realised that there must be a way. The simple mechanics of what happened to my neck (which because of the extra bendyness caused by the EDS and my Chiari squishing my nerves a bit) could happen if I trip walking along the pavement. Just living seemed pretty risky, but I wasn't going to stop doing that was I?! 

The worst kind of retail therapy

I have been shopping recently, and it was the worst kind of retail therapy I have ever done. 

I bought a wheelchair. A wheelchair that I am going to be using. 

And while it was far from therapeutic as an experience, it was also far from simple...

There are so many things to consider when it comes to getting a wheelchair - seat width, depth and angle, type of footrest, height and style of back support, type and height of arm rests and the type of wheels, their heights and camber and the tipping point of the chair. It has been a very steep learning curve. But there have been some really good resources that have helped me along the way, and that's the point of this blog post really!