My name is Deanne Montgomery, on the 12th March 2017 my sister Katrina Montgomery, 3 friends Bryony White, Kimberley Pollard, Frankie Sayles and myself will be running the Weymouth half marathon on behalf of our cousin Samantha Renke. We aim to raise money for her new wheelchair which will give her more independence. We will be running with two wheelchairs, taking it in turns pushing two people (Shamsul Ali and Marcus Biles) in the wheelchairs throughout the whole 13.1 miles.

Samantha is a 30 year old disability campaigner, who often works for charities such as SCOPE and the Brittle Bones Society on a voluntary basis. She has a condition called Osteogenesis Impececta or more commonly known as Brittle Bones. Samantha has already experienced over 200 broken bones throughout her life and has had a number of operations including metal work inserted into her spine and both legs. Her condition means that she is unable to walk and currently uses a manual wheelchair.

Although Samantha does have a manual wheelchair, she is finding it increasing difficult to go out independently. She had restricted movement in her arms, which makes pushing her wheelchair long distances very challenging.

Samantha has already approached the NHS Wheelchair services for help in funding an electric chair but they responded by saying, if she is able to push her manual chair within her own flat then this is sufficient. Completely disregarding the purpose of a powered chair which allows those with disabilities to go out independently with no worries of pavements that are unsuitable for a manual chair or curbs that are too steep to get down.

These chairs come with a hefty price tag of £7000 but we are aiming to raise £2000 from this event.
This is a large sum for anyone but if you were to put a price on your independence or your legs and ability to walk then it seems a small amount to ask for.