Dance turned my life around

A BRITISH dancer who was paralysed at 13 years old said the sport has transformed her life as she sets her sights on a medal at the Para Dance Sport European Championships.

- JAMES TAYLOR

Beth Rogers, 25, will be the sole British representative at the competition in Prague, Czech Republic, which runs from November 22 to 24.

After an athletics incident left her using a wheelchair, she took up dance in December 2016 and competed for the first time just a month later.

The Manchester-born athlete said: "I was really depressed, and finding dance gave me hope of how I was going to manage life with a disability, but also a massive outlet for those feelings.

"So it quite literally turned my life around once I had that as a focus and an outlet for everything else." Beth was born with a genetic connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a condition that causes joint problems, and chronic pain.

When she was tripped up during athletics, she suffered a spiral fracture on her right leg, which damaged the nerves and led to her developing complex regional pain syndrome.