Wheelchair Rugby

I work (for now), I love, I live, I have fun. Just with wheelchairs and drugs and spasms and stuff...

15 January 2022

A man in red short-sleeved shirt and dodgy patchwork trousers is sitting outside in his wheelchair. He's in a lovely garden setting (mature trees in the background). He's clearly pretending to work (laptop, headphones) as he has a cheeky smile and a glass of booze

Sodding Multiple Sclerosis and Sodding Covid. My mental health in quiet isolation.

Ironically, whilst trying to write for months about mental health, I have been struggling with a mental block in putting pen to paper. Or finger to keyboard. Actually it’s been so long it should be quill to parchment. So long that the word ‘blog’ probably wasn’t invented and I should call this ‘ye olde chronicle update’. Awkward. I have faintly covered up my failures with virtual speaking engagements and a shiny series of new podcasts, https://www.prca.org.uk/Disability-at-the-Table . Available on all your favourite gramophones now, with a thrilling new episode out soon. So I can blame my workload on a good few distractions and my fave new invented phrase, ‘other nonsensing’. I’ve stayed tastily busy. Not to mention on telly a […]

15 July 2021

A very handsome chap is on a patio, arms wide open and a celebratory look on his face. He is in a Wheelchair Rugby Chair. He's wearing shorts, a white shirt with multicolour shoulder area. And a ridiculous Mohican dyed rusty orange.

How I Found My Exercise Mojo Again

Mark Webb is starring in the latest ‘We Are Undefeatable’ ad campaign – to encourage people with long-term health conditions to get active. [A Guest Blog for the http://MSSociety.org.uk ] He tells us about his journey to becoming a ‘hunk in one bicep’… Pre-diagnosis Once upon a time, I was a high flying school rugby captain and a sporty all-rounder. Then a flashy ski rep living the high life in the Swiss Alps. Then not so long ago but still a distant memory, I worked for a health and fitness brand. Every Saturday I’d be sweating away in the gym and in spin classes. I’d complete an annual triathlon and swim at least twice a week. But something wasn’t right. I would […]

31 December 2020

Fundraise Bloody Fundraise!

Oops. My improbable plan was to offer up an alternative Queen’s Speech for Christmas Day. But clever friends (or Santa, depending on your age as you read this), bought me a bottle of Salted Caramel Tequila. They know the way to my heart and to my taste buds. First two shots, 9.30am. ‘Writing’ quickly burbled its way to foggy impossibility. “Cog fog!” (Cognitive Dysfunction), shout MSers. “Sozzled,” admits I… Instead I shall emulate all our glorious political and religious leaders and issue a New Year’s Message. That’ll show ‘em. ‘Fundraise, Bloody Fundraise!’ is my 2021 nag. If you are of a certain age or you like your 80’s music, you’ll get the rhyming plagiarism in the title from […]

20 February 2020

What has Disability Ever Done For me?

That was a poorly timed Monty Python joke of a title if you weren’t sure… RIP the spamtastic Terry Jones. And he’s not even in this picture. Oops. I so wish I wasn’t disabled. I wish to the depth of my spasms I didn’t have Multiple Sclerosis. It hurts on so many levels, it’s relentless and it is utterly, mind-bogglingly exhausting. But do I wish life were different? Nope. I am delightedly, delightfully, deliciously, dottily married. We have two stupendous children. A lovely extended family. I am knicker-droppingly‌ gorgeous. Obviously. If balding, ageing and sometimes smelly. What more could I want? (Crème brûlée more often possibly, if I am being picky?). I was prompted to think this through […]