Gemma Stevenson

Tennis, Pilates and clocking a few miles while visiting some historical sites; that's how I'll be fundraising to help Dystonia UK

"Do 250 miles and make it fun!" - that's what Dayna at Dystonia UK told me to do to help their  epic summer Dystonia Around the World fundraising challenge.

So I naturally am planning on having as much fun as possible

1) Getting on court and playing wheelchair tennis

2) Taking part in weekly pilates classes

3) Going on walks (or wheels in my case) around some really interesting places around the UK, and discovering fun facts horrible histories style about each of them, which I'll publish at the end of the challenge in a creative way.

And why am I doing this?

Well after a serious car accident in 2016 I was diagnosed with dystonia, hemidystonia to be exact, after a brain injury. Without the help of the team at Dystonia UK both myself, my family and my GP would still be fighting for a diagnoses now. But with the aid of the information available on their website and their willingness to talk in person to anyone needing help made such a huge difference. 

With Dystonia UK's help, my family and I were able to find ways to adapt so I could carry on with my career as a sports broadcaster and journalist, travelling the world reporting on major events including all four Grand Slams for major broadcasters including Sky Sports.

The support also meant I could eventually return to the tennis court to play wheelchair tennis for fun and continue competing with Team England Adaptive Abilities Cheer. And in 2019 I was part of the World Championship winning Hip Hop squad.  

Even through lockdown they have been providing support through webinars to help with the challenges these uncertain times have brought with them.

However, the cancelling of mass participation events and the inability to run many of the planned fundraising events in 2020 because of restrictions relating to social distancing mean the charity, which does very important work to help so many throughout the UK, have faced a lot of financial challenges in the past few months.

And this is why I'm doing what I'm doing, to try and help them. So please if you can consider donating to through this page so I can reach my £250 target

I originally set myself the challenge of doing 250 miles, however, I have almost reached that target in the first month so I'm now raising the bar and trying to wheel my way to 500 miles. 

And if I meet that target, well I'll change the goalposts again and as The Proclaimers once sang "I will walk 500 more" 

I will keep going as long as you amazing, wonderful people keep donating....