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Maidstone boxing coach takes on London Marathon in wheelchair for daughter
KentOnline / KMTV
Follow
23/03/2024
Wayne Smith's young daughter, Esmé, was diagnosed with a Spinal condition that left her facing life in a wheelchair.
Category
🥇
Sports
Transcript
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00:00
So Wayne and Esme join me in the studio now.
00:03
Thank you both for joining us.
00:05
Really lovely to have you here.
00:07
Wayne, we'll start with you.
00:08
How's training going?
00:09
We can see a picture of you here with your wheels.
00:10
- Yeah, it's going very well.
00:12
It's very tough as expected.
00:14
Like we've taken on a big challenge
00:16
and yeah, the training has been very, very tough
00:20
as you'd imagine it would be.
00:21
But yeah, we're going strong.
00:23
We're now in the final part.
00:25
I'm up to 15 miles so far, like what I did last week.
00:28
And in the next two weeks, I've got two long ones left
00:32
and I'm either going to stick at 17 and a half miles
00:35
or I may go for 20.
00:37
I'm going to see how I feel a little bit closer.
00:40
But we're in the final part now.
00:42
- I mean, it's incredible.
00:42
I had a chance to go on one of these wheels.
00:45
It's a rugby league wheelchair that we're using.
00:47
Really hard.
00:48
And you don't kind of think it
00:50
until you get to sit in the seat
00:51
about how hard it is to push yourself on.
00:53
- I was exactly the same.
00:54
- Yeah, what was it like when you first sat in the chair?
00:56
- I thought, what on earth have you let yourself in for?
01:00
Like, thinking about doing the challenge
01:02
and everything like that is a lot easier.
01:04
Like, say, yeah, I'll do that.
01:05
Like what I said, I'll go for it.
01:07
And I remember the first training session
01:09
going along the towpath thinking,
01:10
what on earth have you let yourself in for here?
01:13
But now we're here and we're close.
01:15
So we're very close now.
01:17
So it's been very difficult, but it's been good.
01:20
Like, I've now got the knack of it.
01:21
So we're getting there. - Yeah, of course.
01:22
Of course.
01:23
And you chose to do this, obviously,
01:25
because of Esme, who's here with us in the studio.
01:29
She's restricted to a wheelchair in her life.
01:31
You decided to take that on.
01:32
Have you been kind of, I mean,
01:34
we've got a brilliant video,
01:35
which we can play from your social media
01:36
of you two being together.
01:38
Have you had to kind of learn some stuff from her?
01:39
- Yeah, yeah, I've been watching you, haven't I?
01:41
Yeah, you've taught Daddy how to do the wheels, haven't you?
01:44
And your wheelies, the way that you fly up and down
01:46
around the house, don't you, and your wheelies.
01:48
And Daddy's been learning from you, hasn't he?
01:51
- Yeah, that's what we're gonna get.
01:53
- Yeah, of course.
01:55
And of course, Demelza, the charity,
01:57
you're doing this all for.
01:59
They've been quite instrumental in the whole journey.
02:01
- Yeah, that's it.
02:02
And since Esme was diagnosed
02:04
with spinal muscular atrophy at 18 months,
02:06
this is SMA type two, and ever since day one,
02:09
Demelza have been absolutely incredible.
02:12
They provide, before you use their service,
02:15
you don't know too much about what they do.
02:18
You just think it's a Demelza Children's Hospice,
02:20
but there's so much more.
02:22
And they've done so much for us.
02:24
Like they provide so many events,
02:27
Easter, Christmas, for all the families.
02:29
They have so much support for families
02:32
with children with disabilities
02:34
that are very sick as well, obviously.
02:37
But they do their events.
02:38
We've had use of their hydro pool.
02:41
They've got their physio that they've given to Esme as well.
02:46
And they do respite as well,
02:47
where we have someone come round once a month
02:49
and gives Emma a little break.
02:53
But it also allows more time to do some one-to-one stuff
02:56
with our son, Archie, because as you can imagine,
02:58
living with a child with a disability, it's 24/7.
03:01
So it's very challenging.
03:03
But what they do for us is absolutely brilliant.
03:06
So this is my way of saying thank you
03:08
and giving back and trying to raise
03:10
as much money as possible for them.
03:11
- Yeah, of course, you mentioned Archie there.
03:12
We can see him on the screen there,
03:13
all three of you with your wheels,
03:16
smiling greatly there.
03:17
- That was on my first half marathon,
03:19
they came and filmed me and they made some little flags
03:23
off of wooden spoons and bits of paper saying,
03:25
"Go, Daddy," and they filmed me at halfway.
03:27
- Oh, fantastic.
03:28
They'll have to do an even bigger one
03:29
for when we reach London, of course.
03:32
Talk to me, what's been the reaction from your family
03:35
and the kind of wider community?
03:38
I know you do a lot with boxing groups
03:40
around Chatham and Kent.
03:42
What's been the reaction?
03:43
- Just that I'm mad, basically.
03:47
Just that everyone's saying,
03:48
"You're absolutely bonkers for doing this,"
03:51
but that's what it's about.
03:53
I think it's 50,000-odd people running that London marathon
03:58
or 35,000, I can't remember what they said.
04:01
But for someone, I'm able-bodied, obviously,
04:04
but I have had two hip replacements,
04:05
so I could never run it even if I wanted to.
04:08
But just to do it in there,
04:10
it's going to be something extraordinary, isn't it?
04:12
So that's it, and that's what gives you the challenge
04:15
to go out and raise as much money as possible.
04:18
- Now, of course, and I mentioned
04:19
you're a boxing coach as well there.
04:22
Is there any kind of transferable skills
04:24
that you've learned about the kind of training for this?
04:26
- Yeah, yeah, definitely.
04:27
Like periodization of the training plan.
04:30
So I created my training plan,
04:32
and I'm bringing myself up,
04:33
as well as then the taper that's coming
04:35
in the last two weeks and stuff like that.
04:38
So I've been following my training plan that I set.
04:41
So having that good knowledge has helped me
04:44
and really helped the training.
04:46
So it's getting me along the way.
04:48
- And you're really active on your social media
04:50
and your Instagram, sharing this story as you go as well.
04:52
And that's where people can go to see some great videos,
04:54
some great pictures of you,
04:55
but also follow your fundraising journey too.
04:58
Can we expect a kind of Rocky-style montage
05:01
in the near future?
05:03
- That would be good, that would be good.
05:05
Luckily, I've got a videographer
05:07
that's been helping me out with some videos.
05:09
So that's a very good,
05:11
we should really lay onto that a little bit more.
05:13
- Yeah, definitely.
05:14
- No, brilliant.
05:15
You've just crossed the 7,000 pound mark,
05:18
aiming for 10,000.
05:20
Clearly quite a big response
05:22
from people wanting to help you out.
05:23
- That's right, yeah.
05:24
I'm absolutely amazed.
05:26
Like literally, we had to raise 2,000 pounds
05:31
to be at the start line,
05:32
and I reached out and I'm very lucky.
05:34
I've got all of these companies here that are on my jumper
05:37
that reached straight out, straight away
05:40
to do company sponsorship
05:41
that helped me get straight over the line.
05:43
So I raised the 2,000 pound fairly quickly
05:46
so that we were definitely at the line
05:48
and it was like, oh right,
05:49
we're definitely doing this then, that kind of moment.
05:52
And now, as you see it start growing,
05:54
it's like, let's go for 10.
05:56
Like we've got to do,
05:57
if we can get 10,000 pound for this charity
06:00
from little old me doing 26 miles in a wheelchair,
06:04
then let's do it.
06:05
So I can't thank everyone enough that's supporting it.
06:08
- Thank you so much, Wayne, for joining us today
06:10
and best of luck with the journey ahead of you.
06:12
- Brilliant, thank you very much.
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