Member Article

Donation helps paralympian buy new wheelchair

A dedicated paralympian who represented Great Britain in the 1984 Paralympics has been given a cash boost to purchase a new state-of-the-art sports wheelchair.

Gary Davidson, age 51 from Saltcoats, received the donation of £1,000 from Persimmon Homes West Scotland after applying for the company’s Community Champions funding.

The bespoke lightweight sports wheelchair will enable Gary to continue with a sporting career that has spanned over 40 years during which he represented Great Britain in the 1984 Paralympics and Scotland in disciplines that include swimming, table tennis, wheelchair rugby and basketball.

Living with Spina bifida since birth Gary has always been determined that his condition wouldn’t stop him from achieving great things in the sporting world. However six years ago Gary suffered a serious setback when he was diagnosed with a case of septisemia that left him on the brink of death.

Gary genuinely believes that his fitness was the one thing that helped him to pull through when doctors told him that he had just 90 mintes to live.

Gary couldn’t believe his luck when he received the call to confirm that he had been nominated to receive the cash, saying: “When I got the call I thought it was just another another call centre and couldn’t believe my luck when I was told that buying my new sports wheelchair was a real possibility.

“The new wheelchair will replace my existing chair that I have had for over 12 years. Obviously technology has improved in that time and my new lightweight chair will help to improve my fitness and motivation at this difficult time in my life when my disability is becoming even more debilitating.

“It means that I can continue to support and show young people the ways that they can access sporting and leisure activities involving disabled wheelchair users.”

Gary currently manages and competes for the West of Scotland Warrior wheelchair basketball team and raises awareness of the wide range of wheelchair sports for young people across Scotland

Doug Law, managing director at Persimmon Homes West Scotland, said: “Gary’s application for funding genuinely proved that through hard work and dedication he had turned his disability into a real positive by sharing his knowledge and experience with young people across Scotland. His competitive spirit and determination is a lesson to us all.”

The Persimmon Community Champions initiative is a national programme where charities and groups can apply for funding up to the value of £1,000 to match money they have already raised themselves.

Nationwide the company will donate a total of £750,000. Persimmon West Scotland has developments across Ayrshire, including Montgomerie View, Irvine, Dunlop Road, Stewarton and Ardrossan Harbour For more information visit www.persimmonhomes.com

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Andrew McLagan .