FOUNDATION SUPPORT HEADS NORTH
The Matt Hampson Foundation has launched its first satellite hub to reach out and support young people seriously injured through sport in more parts of the country.
The Foundation offers specialist support, advice and treatment for young people after life-changing injury, and in 2018 opened its Get Busy Living Centre in Leicestershire, providing expert physiotherapy and specialised personal training as well as wellbeing support.
Now the Foundation is forming a partnership to provide a northern hub based at Gym Possible, founded by former athlete Drew Graham, in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
Matt Hampson has been paralysed from the neck down and breathing via the aid of a ventilator since an accident in 2005 during an England Under-21 rugby training session, but rather than lament what he’d lost, instead he decided to focus on the things he could still do and to ‘get busy living’. Matt established the Foundation to help others who have suffered catastrophic injuries through sport to receive the support they need to rebuild their lives. He was awarded an OBE in 2021 in recognition of his achievements.
Welcoming the launch of the Foundation’s first regional hub, Matt said: “We have an outstanding facility at the Get Busy Living Centre but we appreciate that not everyone is able to come to see us regularly from other parts of the country. So, as well as planning to extend our facilities at the Centre, we also want to take our support further afield.
“I’m delighted to welcome Gym Possible on board as a northern hub, our first satellite link.
“It is important that continued support is there for beneficiaries wherever they are. Drew and the team at Gym Possible do a great job in making exercise and activity accessible to all and we look forward to working very closely with them, offering more support to more young people affected by life-changing injury.”
Gym Possible founder and chief executive Drew Graham has first-hand experience of life-changing injury and the need for suitable facilities and support.
He suffered a spinal cord injury in an accident in the United States in 2014 where he had been an elite middle-distance runner, competing for Adams State University and winning national collegiate titles as well as taking part in the Olympic trials. After rehabilitation from his accident in Colorado, Drew was unable to find suitable facilities near home in England and knew that an affordable, accessible gym for wheelchair users was needed.
Drew first encountered the Foundation in 2016 when he started the Pop-Up Gym as a charity and wheelchair accessible facility. That project has gone through many changes since then and is now known as Gym Possible, located in the Benton area of Newcastle. It is open seven days a week with the aim of making exercise physically and financially accessible to people with physical disabilities. Members can use the facilities at any time, with the option of booking physiotherapy or personal trainer sessions.
Gym Possible already hosts strength and conditioning sessions for the Newcastle Wheelchair Rugby Team.
Drew said: “One consistent factor on our journey has been the continued support from the Matt Hampson Foundation. The help and guidance from Matt and the Foundation’s chief executive Tommy Cawston have been second to none and allowed us to evolve into the gym we are today.
“We are overjoyed to be welcomed into the Matt Hampson Foundation as a
Get Busy Living satellite venue.
“We will remain in the North-East, where our members need us, but to know that the Foundation is with us every step of the way gives us the confidence to move into the future with the clarity and focus necessary to provide the accessible exercise services so desperately needed.”
For more information, see www.gympossible.org
