At the age of 13 Amber began to lose the use of her legs, it took 12 months, many tests and countless hospital visits to be told that she has a complicated form of a rare progressive disease called Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia, in her case it is so rare that scientists have yet to find the gene responsible. Now 18, her condition has deteriorated and she is now a full time wheelchair user with no voluntary movement from the chest down, she also battles violent spasms and fatigue.

Almost four years ago now Amber was struggling with anxiety, social surroundings and managing to attend school due to both her HSP and also having high functioning autism. This is when she decided to learn to sit ski. She had many lessons with Disability Snowsports UK at The Chill Factore, Manchester and this really helped her adjust to life with a disability.

Two years ago she was spotted by the performance director for the British Disabled Ski Team (now called British Parasnowsport) and invited to train with the development squad - this was just the beginning of an amazing journey.

Amber is now a member of the British Parasnowsport Development Squad, and in the women's sitting category for slalom she is 1st in Britain and 24th in the world.

Now she is aiming for bigger things, she is soon to take part in her first giant slalom race and has many other races lined up this season. With your help she will be able to attend the training camps required (at least 40 days on snow per year). Her aim is to one day ski at the Paralympics.

As Amber's HSP is a degenerative condition it is vital that she makes the most of her body whilst she can.

You can follow Amber's progress via her blog http://ambermeiklejanneyskier.blogspot.co.uk or her FaceBook page https://www.facebook.com/ambermeiklejanney