Extreme abseil to support inclusive adventures!

Hi there,

My name is Laura McEvoy and on the 21st October 2022, I was driving home from Belfast and was in a car crash. My car spun and I collided with a lorry.

I had an emergency surgery on my spine. I had fractured my c6 and c7 in my neck, broken L1 vertebrae (which is where my incomplete spinal cord injury is) and cracked my skull. The first few weeks were a bit blurry because of the pain and pain relief I was on.

In the early days of my journey, I was told that no one could guarantee that I would ever be able to walk again. I couldn’t move any of my lower limbs and it was scary, feeling stuck in your own body.

I didn’t let myself think that I may never be able to walk again because I didn’t believe it... even though no one could say for sure.

Incomplete spinal cord injuries are complex because no one can say what the potential recovery is. All you can do is to keep pushing, make the most out of rehab facilities and trust the process.

I was in hospital for 5 months and throughout these months of physical therapy, occupational therapy and working on my mobility in my own free time, slowly I was teaching my body to move again the way it was supposed to. Certain muscle groups began to come back and seeing the slight improvements were pushing me more and more.

I am now able to walk with crutches and AFO’s (ankle-foot orthosis). Moving is very different now than what it used to be but I am motivated for the future and feeling positive about it.

While in hospital the one thing I craved to do was to get back on my paddle board and back into the sea. I remember saying to myself while still bound to a wheelchair “I don’t know how it is possible”. Having amazing supportive friends and family to share these moments with I was able to get back to my happy place out at sea.

Being in hospital for such a long time it made me appreciate the outdoors in general so much. I missed the positive buzz you get after a beautiful, scenic walk. I missed the feeling post run after pushing your body to the limits and just the appreciation of the majestic country we live in.

This journey has encouraged me to try new things, I have tried hand cycling, rock-climbing, paddle boarding and many more. The importance of being out with nature is so crucial for our mental health. Mental Health is something I am very passionate about and completing these sports for the first time after my injury made me feel an intense sense of accomplishment and made me feel sad that there are so many people who are maybe scared of trying something so different in case their body or mind may not be capable of it. But you are capable of so much more than what you give yourself credit for.

From participating in rock-climbing with mountaineering Ireland, I have met some amazing people who sparked an idea of increasing the accessibility for people with different physical and mental disabilities to increase the quality of life and to overall challenge people to step outside their comfort zone and doing this, great things will follow.

I am working with outdoor partnership which is a charity with the aim to enhance people lives through outdoor activity with the strategic approach to create ‘generational change’ where outdoor activities are the ‘norm’. They have a great ‘Inclusive adventure’ scheme that runs in Wales. I would like Northern Ireland to be more like this and I hope to support the Outdoor Partnership based in the Mourne and the Sperrins to provide similar opportunities here.

I want to raise money to support the growth of ‘Inclusive Adventure’ in Northern Ireland, so that people with a disability have the confidence to give these adventurous activities a go. Activities include sailing, canoeing, kayaking, paddle boarding, rock climbing, hill walking, cycling, rowing and many more.

The goal is to improve people with disabilities engagement throughout the area. Disability Sport Wales reported in 2014 that there is 24% disabled people in Wales, but only 3.4% of them participate in sports and other leisure activities in North Wales.

This is a passion of mine and to mark a year post spinal cord injury I am wanting to fundraise for this charity. So, on the weekend of 6-8th October Myself, Brady Chambers, Ricky Bell and Paul Kellagher are setting off to the Rathlin Wall, Fairhead on the North coast to abseil the cliff and climb back up again. I have attached photos in which you can see a person in the photo which shows the scale of the cliff. If you zoom in on one of the photos you can see the abseil rope. This is an exciting challenge and an intimidating one. The team and I have been putting physical preparation into this challenge to ensure we have the strength to complete this physically exertive task. We will continue to do so and to support the ‘Outdoor partnership’ charity through fundraising.

This is the link for Outdoor partnership, if you wish to have a look at the amazing work they do and will continue to do. outdoor partnership inclusive adventure. Also, if there is any further interest in mountaineering, the web link is Mountaineering Ireland

Thank you for the support!