Beneficiary Stories

Joe Acott -

Before his injury, Joe was at the peak of his fitness, thriving in CrossFit, triathlons, and football. His life was fueled by adrenaline and challenge, which eventually led him to join the police force. Joe loved the excitement and rush of being a police officer—until it all changed. During a high-speed chase, Joe suffered a…

Hannah Baldwin -

Growing up, Hannah was active and adventurous by nature. She wanted to explore, and climb, and compete. This spirit of possibility is what shaped her childhood, until – aged 12 – she had a climbing accident, and soon afterwards was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. The trauma, the treatment, and the recovery changed how she could…

Tom Carus -

I remember being tackled and thinking ‘ow no, this isn’t good.’ I had broken my clavicle, dislocated my sternum, and ruptured the artery which supplies blood to the brain. As I lost consciousness, one of the parents – an off-duty medic – saved my life, using a kitchen knife to open my chest and allow…

Ruari Watson -

Ruari broke his neck in 2011 when he was only 23 from slipping as he dived into a swimming pool leaving him with damage to the spinal cord at C4/C5. He has Brown Sequard syndrome so the left side is stronger than the right but the stronger side has reduced sensation to temperature/pain. Initially the…

Ben Halms -

Ben is a 33-year-old veteran, and he suffered a spinal cord injury in 2018 whilst parachuting for the British Army. Ben had served 13 years in the Parachute Regiment, until he found himself on a routine parachute jump. Ben’s parachute failed to deploy properly and malfunctioned, which resulted in him falling 1000ft and landing 12…

Matthew Allen -

Matt was admitted to hospital on the 11th December 2019 after having a bout of sickness the day before. Once in hospital he started to deteriorate rapidly and before his friends and family could take a breath Matt was in a coma, his kidneys not functioning and neither were his lungs. With no clear diagnosis,…

Leah Birkin -

Leah broke and dislocated her t11 vertebrae playing rugby for Yorkshire in May 2018. She underwent spinal surgery to stabilise the break and fix two metal rods to support the fracture and allow for repair. Although Leah recovered physically it left her with a few mental scars and she struggled to get back to who…

Lily Minton -

In 2020 Lily was unaware that her brother had put her forward for a beneficiary place with M2M. Lily was going through a tough time psychologically, facing depression and anxiety on a daily basis & really struggling in any social situations. Lily wrote in a recent blog “I’d gotten into such a mental trap; built…

Jozef Bieszczad -

Jozef has always been a mountain man. From an early age he loved getting outdoors and so when he broke his back and pelvis skydiving it meant that all he had known was suddenly no longer accessible to him. Since his surgery Jozef had always dreamed of getting back out into the mountains and the…

Jacob Smith -

Christmas in 2019 wasn’t an ordinary Christmas as Jake discovered he had a low flow spinal cavernoma which led to him going into surgery to have it removed on NYE. This has left Jake with a spinal cord injury with the damage extending from C3-C7. He also has Brown Sequards syndrome which means he has…

Emma Harrison -

Emma has been involved with M2M since the beginning. Back in 2018, Emma reached out to Ed as she was looking for a physio that would be prepared to take her outside on walks and test her neurology in nature. Sure enough, Ed had the contacts. Emma said “Earlier this year [August 2020] I met…

Hannah Benson -

April 16th was a normal day at work for Hannah, a 5.30am wake up and out with the horses by 6.30am. Unfortunately, the horse Hannah was riding slipped, squashing her and she stopped breathing. She was resuscitated twice and found herself in an induced coma for 10 days in intensive care. Hannah describes learning to…

Isabel Murton -

In 2016 when Issy was 16, she was involved in a bus crash, and it flipped her world upside down. Though spared of physical injury, she developed complex PTSD and avoidance anxiety. She describes the internal prison she had found herself in as “not wanting to go anywhere or do anything at all”. Hearing that…

Jennifer Rolls -

Three years ago, Jen was struggling to leave the house as she battled crippling anxiety. She describes not even feeling safe inside the house with noises on the street frequently triggering panic attacks. Jen and her partner Matt discovered Ed in lockdown whilst he was climbing Everest on his parents’ stairs. “Matt was newly injured…

jennifer-farley -

Jenny was diagnosed with a rare neurological condition called Syringomyelia in 2007. Since then, she has undergone multiple surgeries to try and restore movement but undergoing four surgeries in two years meant Jenny woke to no sensation or control in her left leg. She was wheelchair bound and often feels like it is a “never-ending…

Charlotte Florence -

Shortly before leaving for the US to celebrate her birthday with her brother, Charlotte assumed this would be the last thing she’d be doing before returning “to normal life” in the UK. She never expected to end her usual pre-yoga sunrise surf down a steep slope in the jungle. Charlotte had lost control of the…

Adam Sharp -

For as long as I can remember, rugby was my identity. Those formative years were the best of my life. The training, the fitness, the physicality, the camaraderie. I just loved it. I played for England juniors, and then semi-professionally in the U.S. and back home in Bristol, right up until the accident. I was…

Alice Salisbury -

It came on suddenly. It was Christmas Eve, so I was surrounded by my family. My dad is a doctor, mum a nurse, and brother a neuro-scientist, so we are well versed in medicine. The consensus was that it was likely spasms. However, after seeing my foot drop, my dad became concerned. It is a…

Dan Arthur -

While I work out what I want to do next, I am working in a library. As I put the books back on the shelves, I am reminded of all the stories I read as a child. I loved reading. Disappearing into another world. This is the start of a new chapter for me. Away…