You Just Have To Keep Going

She survived a near-fatal accident six years ago that left her paralysed – but Soozi has mastered the art of looking on the bright side

- Marelize Grbich

If anyone knows what lockdown feels like, it’s Soozi Dinnie. For the past six years, she’s had to forfeit all the things she once took for granted – exercising freely, coming and going as she pleases, seeing her friends and extended family whenever she feels like it.

Yet she still managed to find things she enjoyed – especially spending time with people in a similar situation, helping them cope, finding ways to bring them comfort, and being comforted and fulfilled in return.

She also lived for her water exercise classes and physiotherapy sessions which brought her relief and relaxation.

But then the pandemic arrived and everything ground to a halt for the 55-year-old paraplegic.

“My whole support network has become risky for me,” Soozi explains. “People don’t realise how vulnerable people in wheelchairs are to the virus.”

And it’s not just a matter of fearing Covid-19 – like so many others, she’s also grappling with grief.

In the space of three weeks, she lost three “wheelchair warriors”, as she calls them – dear friends she met in rehab after the freak accident that robbed her of her mobility.

“And earlier in the pandemic seven other people I knew who were in wheelchairs died too.”

Not being able to see people is hard, Soozi admits. “You become very isolated. It’s tough.”

Yet she refuses to let it get her down too much and has made it her mission to make people aware just how much of a threat the virus poses to paraplegics.