Talking ‘Finding Your Why’ with David Smith, MBE.
David was born with club foot and spent the early years of his life undergoing multiple surgeries and learning to walk in special boots and plaster casts. After pursuing able bodied sports at international level, including karate, bobsleigh and athletics, he found himself on the UK paralympic rowing squad. In 2010, after some hiccups in training, he underwent routine tests including an MRI scan of his spine, that ultimately led to the discovery of a tumour which was crushing his spinal cord and required emergency, life threatening spinal surgery.. Less than 2 years after his first surgery he won gold in the mixed coxed four in the paralympic games. He then moved onto the GB para-cycling programme, with the aspiration of racing in Rio. However, in 2014, his tumour came back and since then he has undergone a further 5 enormous operations. His operation in 2016 left him paralysed. David is someone who has to live both with a spinal cord injury and the fear of his tumour progressing yet he is someone who LIVES in the true sense of the word.
A special and exclusive interview with Paula Radcliffe and her daughter, Isla
In this episode we talk to Marathon Queen and former world Record Holder Paula Radcliffe and her incredible daughter Isla about Isla's cancer diagnosis at the age of 14 in the autumn of 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is the first time outside the Sunday Times article that Isla has spoken publicly about her experience with cancer.