Jack's Story

My name is Jack and I am 14 years old.  I have broken 61 bones in my life and I am wheelchair bound.  My first break was when I was only 2 weeks old and I continued to break continuously throughout my life.  I have had up to 10 major operations to correct broken/bent bones with metal rods.  While I am growing these rods needs to be changed every 3 years.  I have spent alot of time in hospital and I am grateful for the care and support I receive. 

At the age of 9 years I was introduced to wheelchair racing and I instantly loved it.  I competed in my first London Mini Marathon after only 3 months of training and although I was the youngest one their, I came 3rd.  I then knew that I wanted to wheelchair race as a serious athlete.  I now race at European level and I am ranked 13th in the UK and 96th in the world. 

In November 2010, I had an operation on my hip that was partially dislocated and the operation did not go to plan and I was left with a completely dislocated hip and in Intensive Care for 4 days.  On coming home and recovering from this operation I then broke my left femur just before Christmas and was stuck in hospital for just over 2 weeks on strict bed rest.  It was at this time that Momentum came to visit me and saw that I was writing some lyrics.  Bianca offered for me to meet Jacqueline Wilson to give me some advise on writing styles and offer some help.  This then led me to start writing my own auto biography about how my life is with Brittle bones.  I have started this and will probably continue with it when I go back into hospital again for corrective surgery on my hip.  I am looking forward to getting my leg fixed now so that I can get back into training to be a wheelchair racer. 

My ambition is to one day be in the Paralympics and race for my country.