Gold Medal Olympian to offer remarkable tale of triumph from adversity – Chichester date

Claire Robinson, partnerships coordinator at the venue, said: “This Friday sees the inspiring Aaron Phipps speak about his extraordinary life and career as a gold medal winning Paralympic champion from the Toyko 2020 games. He plays the brutal, only full-contact disability sport, Wheelchair Rugby aka Murderball. His team went from being 5th in the world to the best on the planet, in the middle of a global pandemic. He will talk about his life and how he came to go from a typical childhood of rollerblading and running around to becoming a wheelchair champion and endurance athlete.

“Aaron grew up to enjoy rollerblading, skateboarding, BMX riding and basketball, he had a normal childhood. That was until he was 15. On 7th January 1999, he woke up with flu-like symptoms. They seemed harmless but 12 hours later he was on a life support machine. He had contracted Meningitis C which quickly got worse and he developed blood poisoning, called Meningococcal sepsis.

“Doctors, along with his parents, decided to place Aaron into an induced coma that lasted for two weeks. It became clear that he had to have both legs amputated from the knee down, along with most of his fingers. In total, he spent a year in hospital recovering and receiving treatment.

“His story since then is one of achievement, determination and endurance. Not only did he help his team bring home the gold from the Tokyo Olympics but Aaron was the first disabled person to scale Mount Kilimanjaro unassisted. In 2013, Aaron was approached by fundraisers at the Meningitis Research Foundation, saying that several fundraisers were going to do the climb and asked if he wanted to take part. His reaction? “Let’s do this!”

​“After 3 years of hard training, wheelchair customisation, and a trial climb of Mt. Blanc, the climb began in May 2016. After the first stage of the climb, it became more apparent he wasn’t going to be able to use his chair very much.

​“It was suggested that he was soon going to need assistance but he made it clear that he wanted to go as far as he can without any help. After four hard days of crawling almost entirely on his hands and knees, he made the 6000 metre climb to the top, to become the first disabled person to scale Mount Kilimanjaro unassisted.

“Those wanting to come along and hear Aaron’s story can book their ticket by going along to Graylingwell Chapel’s website at https://graylingwellchapel.com/whats-on/. Doors will open at 6.30pm for drinks, and Aaron’s talk will begin at 7.30pm. For more information contact the team at Chichester Community Development Trust at [email protected].”