Into the WILD

A pair of Hampshire adventurers are demonstrating that disability shouldn’t limit ambition in a series of international challenges

- Duncan Hall

When three-yearold Emebet Allie Deress lost her legs in a car accident, some residents of her Ethiopian village told her mother she should be left in a ditch to die.

It was partly to counter entrenched ideas like this that the wheelchair basketball player, now 21, was invited to join an expedition to scale Ethiopian mountain Ras Dashen in October 2019 alongside Stockbridge quadruple amputee Alex Lewis.

Alex’s story was told in an unforgettable Channel Four documentary. What was initially thought to be man flu turned out to be Strep A – something which is normally no more than a sore throat. In Alex’s case it developed into toxic shock syndrome and septicaemia which led to the then 33-year-old having both his arms and legs amputated, as well as undergoing extensive facial reconstruction. Alex’s life changed beyond all recognition – but as his partner Lucy Townsend said in the documentary The Extraordinary Case of Alex Lewis he now has more drive than he’s ever had. Since his experience Alex has gone skydiving, sea kayaking in Greenland and river rafting in Namibia. He also helps universities in designing and testing biomechanical aids, is an ambassador for the military charity Pilgrim Bandits and has developed new careers as an interior designer and motivational speaker. And now he is part of Wild Wheelchairs, alongside Twyford adventurer David Collinson.

‘Quadruple amputees shouldn’t really be up there – but with the right people everything is possible’