Adam Dickinson
Mine is a story of multiple setbacks, but there is a happy ending, so keep reading and you’ll get to it!
Having always been a very active person (cycling, playing football and skateboarding), at the age of 20, after nine months of misdiagnosis and a visible tennis ball sized lump in my lower back, I was diagnosed with a chondrosarcoma in my coccyx. I had surgery but the tumour returned and I was referred to Mr Cannon at the RNOH.
“In December 2004, on my sisters 21st birthday, I was told the tumour had come back and a full amputation was the only option. I spent a couple of months in hospital recovering, adjusting to life in a wheelchair and attempting to learn to walk again however my spine was too weak to support me and further investigations showed that the tumour had again regrown.
“Surgery took place in January 2007, the tumour was successfully removed, and I have been cancer free since then! Unfortunately, this surgery resulted in me becoming paraplegic, I had to accept that I would be a full-time wheelchair user. My mental recovery throughout all of this was not good; I isolated myself from family and friends which resulted in severe depression. Due to numerous infections my physical recovery was a long one coupled with the severity of my depression my weight had increased to 20 stone, which as someone who had never peaked above 11 stone was a massive shock. I decided I needed to take control of my life again, I moved out on my own and joined a local disability sports club so I could get out of the house and build a new social life. This is where I found my passion for wheelchair basketball.
“It gave me great headspace and quickly reduced my weight, resulting in me feeling more like me again. I even helped to set up a team!
“Over the next couple of years my self-confidence increased, I began to think about my future and decided that I wanted to go to university, meaning a move away from home. I really enjoyed my first year of studies but I missed playing basketball - I did not have any outlet to help with pain related anxieties. I had a conversation about my mental health with one of the health psychology professors at the university, she intervened by phoning the coach of ‘Stoke Spitfires’ wheelchair basketball team, telling him (and me) that I was joining the team! I quickly became part of the Spitfires family but was prohibited by not having own basketball wheelchair.
“After a league match during which the coach had openly criticised me for something that I knew was due to the wheelchair and not my basketball skills I came home and phoned my girlfriend in tears. I took charge, and emailed Julie Woodford, my cancer nurse at RNOH, she put me in touch with SCAT who offered funding towards a new wheelchair and it is amazing! Everyone has commented on how much my game has improved since I’ve been using it (I kept telling them I was good!). By helping to fund the new chair SCAT has given me so much happiness in a sport I love which has helped to reduce my weight and the stress and anxieties associated with having neuropathic pain. My life is now very exciting; I have finished my degree and am looking to move onto the next step in my career in psychology. Wherever I go, thanks to SCT, I will be taking an amazing basketball chair with me and I will be signing up to play for the local club.”