Kayaking is such a diverse sport; wherever you find paddlers, you’ll find groups of people with a variety of backgrounds, whether that’s the discipline of paddle sports they do, where they’re from, what they do for work, or even health and disability.
In my case, I have a chronic illness called Ulcerative Colitis, which is a long-term condition where the colon and large intestines get inflamed, causing symptoms of fatigue, stomach pain and diarrhoea during flare-ups.
As anyone with health conditions will find, it affects all aspects of life, and kayaking is no different. I’ve had to abandon kayaking plans and trips affected by flare-ups and had to deal with anxiety about flare-ups while I am travelling. On the flip side, kayaking has positively influenced my health condition and how I see it.
I started kayaking in January 2022, a month after an initial diagnosis. The reason I started was that while in the waiting room or recovering in bed I ended up watching a lot of videos from the Send crew. I had dabbled in the kayaking world before the Covid lockdowns. I’d been taught a few basics and went on a few trips, but due to being under 18 and not having much money, I wasn’t able to pursue it as much as I’d like. After the COVID lockdown restrictions eased and after my health got better, I had the drive to go out and give kayaking a proper try. After a lot of time and effort, I went from beatering at Hurley Weir to throwing down some tricks on big waves in Uganda and travelling to the Alps to coach and safety a university kayaking trip.
To a degree, what I’ve achieved in kayaking has happened despite having a chronic illness, but also, kayaking in itself has helped me overcome the chronic illness. Whether that’s physically providing an avenue to keep me healthy or psychologically giving me the drive to get through the tough times and get back on the water.