Actor Ellie Henry, 23, is the most recent character to again a brand new marketing campaign designed to empower disabled kids and adults throughout Nice Britain by means of adaptive snowsports.
Ellie, greatest recognized for her role-playing Freya Calder on lengthy working Channel 4 cleaning soap opera Hollyoaks, was identified with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome at 15 -years-old, main her to develop into an ambulatory wheelchair consumer.
This summer time, she is supporting the charity that’s educating her to ski, Incapacity Snowsport UK (DSUK), as they bid to boost £10,000 through the summer time Olympic and Paralympic video games by encouraging folks to tackle a ten,000m sporting problem and lift cash to help grass roots snowsports.
Ellie lately found sit snowboarding after taking classes with Incapacity Snowsport UK on the Chill Factore in Manchester.
She says “I grew up being very sporty, daring and by no means stopped shifting. I had goals of changing into and Olympic gymnast after which someday I suffered an damage taking a dance class once I was 15 years previous. It was solely once I acquired remedy that I realized I had a uncommon inherited connective tissue dysfunction, which meant my life was about to vary endlessly.”
Ellie, whose character in Hollyoaks was left with life-changing accidents in a minibus crash, says “Incapacity compelled me to reside a life sitting down and initially I couldn’t discover a single optimistic. It’s solely now, eight years later, that I’ve began to seek out myself once more.
“Sit snowboarding has been an enormous deal for me; discovering adrenaline and journey in a method I didn’t suppose I’d be capable of has actually unlocked one thing in my thoughts. Throwing myself down a slope and hoping for the very best is my new type of remedy.”
“I’ve at all times been a little bit of an adrenaline junkie however didn’t suppose snowboarding could be accessible for me. After I found it was doable, I haven’t regarded again! I’m nonetheless on the early levels of my snowboarding journey nevertheless it’s already develop into an enormous ardour in my life and helps with my confidence on and off the slopes,” Ellie continues, including, “Snowboarding has already given a lot again to me and I’m solely simply getting began. I do know DSUK are a small, area of interest charity and want all of the help they will get, so I’m delighted to assist them shine a highlight on adaptive snowsport by means of my story and again their new #TeamDSUK 10k for £10k marketing campaign.
“For those who can, I encourage you to enroll and tackle a 10k run, swim, cycle, ski or no matter problem you need! By getting your family and friends to sponsor you; you may assist them to boost the funds this wonderful charity want this summer time and assist extra folks like me expertise this excellent sport.”
“Being a winter sports-based charity, the summer time is a time of the yr once we’re usually forgotten about. However, just like the neighborhood we exist to help, disabilities and accidents aren’t seasonal, so it’s important we increase these funds now,” mentioned DSUK CEO Virginia Anderson including,
“The beauty of snowboarding and the work that we do within the UK particularly, is that adaptive snowboarding and snowboarding is an exercise that may be loved twelve months a yr and never simply over the winter months. You will get concerned and assist folks like Ellie expertise new freedoms on the slope that may breathe confidence into all points of life. Please be part of our staff of sporting fundraisers this summer time.”
“I’m now not shocked once I see myself in a wheelchair in a mirror. Perhaps that’s as a result of I see myself on display within the chair a lot, or possibly it’s as a result of I’ve stopped being scared to look and actually see myself sat down. Both method I now see myself, and never a model of me I don’t know who’s sat down. That’s the most important win and I’m so excited to see the place my snowboarding journey takes me,” Ellie concludes.
To participate within the #TeamDSUK 10k for £10k problem or to study extra about Incapacity Snowsport UK go to : www.disabilitysnowsport.org.uk/occasions/10k-for-10k
To make a donation to the marketing campaign go to: https://www.justgiving.com/marketing campaign/10kfor10k
All photographs ©Cameron Ross Corridor – Holmlands
