Injury didn’t damage Val’s competitive spirit

The 2008 Star Woman of the Year will be crowned on Friday. In the build-up to the ceremony, we are profiling one of our eight finalists each day. Today we chat to a woman who has turned tragedy into triumph.

Mother-of-four Val Fisher’s life was shattered last year when she was involved in a terrible riding accident.

The 48-year-old suffered a serious spinal injury when her horse reared up and rolled over on top of her.

“I went to shove him away and the pain was horrendous, and then suddenly I was fighting for consciousness,” she recalled.

“My friend’s husband had heard the crash of hooves and came running straight up and he called an ambulance.”

She spent 13 weeks in the Midlands Spinal Hospital at Oswestry - “Six weeks flat on my back and six weeks learning to slide on a board into a wheelchair.”

The accident forced Val to give up competitive horseriding and the job she loved at the Baschurch village shop, where husband Malcolm still runs the post office.

But she’s a fighter and she has used her experience on the long and hard road to recovery to carve out a different, yet fulfilling life.

“I wanted to remain active and I wanted to do something which would allow me to compete as I’m a very competitive person.

“I’m also convinced that regular exercise will help me to get better,” she said.

“I can’t describe the sheer physical exhaustion of just a few minutes’ exercise - it’s horrendous and leaves you completely drained, which was difficult for me because I have always been a very energetic person.”

While in hospital, she was persuaded to attend a tennis demonstration. Less than a year after the accident, Val had started Shropshire’s first wheelchair tennis club.

With help from the Welti club at Shrewsbury, and following a piece in the Shropshire Star, five people turned up for the first meeting. The only problem was, they didn’t have the right wheelchairs to allow them to compete.

That didn’t stop Val. She secured funding of £2,500 from Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council’s small capital projects grants programme, allowing the group to access match funding from the Dan Maskell Trust.

Now members with ages ranging from 15 to 49 meet weekly, and Val has entered the world of competitive wheelchair tennis, and represented Oswestry in the inter-spinal unit games.

“When I had my accident I just wanted to stay at home and not see anyone. But I didn’t allow myself to do that because you know if you do it will get worse and worse for you.

“So the tennis club is also about people getting out and enjoying being part of a group and making them feel better about themselves.”

The family home in Baschurch has been adapted for her new life but Val says: “I want to get back to work eventually, but I need to get fitter and stronger. I’ve always been a very determined character.”