Kayaker, 16, refusing to give up Paralympic dream

A 16-year-old is refusing to give up his kayaking dream despite the paralysis of his left leg and suffering a subsequent massive seizure.

Shayne wants to represent Britain at the Paralympics in Brisbane in 2032, but it could take two years to regain control of his upper body after the seizure, which happened last month.

Daily life for the teenager, from Priorslee in Telford, now involves intensive rehabilitation and a fundraising appeal has been set up for him to get a better wheelchair.

"You've got to keep fighting through the bad days to get to the good days," he said.

Shayne said a benign tumour was removed from his knee when he was aged10 and then, last September, a scan revealed a shadow on his shin and he went into hospital in November to have it removed.

But when he failed to recover, more tests were carried out and his mother Claire said he was found to have a condition known as compartment syndrome, resulting in permanent paralysis of his sciatic and femoral nerves.

'Brain sends wrong signals'

Shayne said: "At 16, it's not great being told you're never going to walk again."

But he has not let that hold him back and the keen kayaker was accepted into the ParaCanoe Junior Academy.

But then, in July this year, he suffered another setback while at a canoe event - suffering a huge neurological seizure that left him unable to control the muscles in his core or neck.

He now has to hold his head up with his hands and said: "Your brain sends the wrong signals or the signals aren't getting through."

Shayne has to use a wheelchair and currently has to support his head with his hands

Shayne has been told that while his left leg and hip will never recover, he can regain control of his upper body, in time, and he remains positive.

"I can shut myself in my room and cry about it all day and that's okay, but when I come out it's still going to be the same as when I went in, it's not going to change anything," he said.

He is targeting a place in the GB Paracanoe team for 2032 and said: "I think if you've got something like a goal in your mind of where you want to be or what you want to do, you can do anything.

"This might not be how I thought my life was going to go, but this is how I've got to go forwards."

Shayne's mother, Claire, set up a fundraising appeal to help him

Claire said the family's lives have changed forever.

"However, Shayne has just seen this as the ultimate challenge and has no intention on it stopping him achieving his sporting goals," she said.

Despite his setback earlier this summer, she said: "He's still fighting really hard despite everything getting thrown at him."

So far, £1,500 has been raised in the plan to buy Shayne a more supportive wheelchair, plus other accessibility equipment and help.

Shayne has already achieved his goals of getting back into a canoe and back onto a horse and said: "If I put my mind to something, I will do it 100%."