Student's rugby paralysis inspires marathon goal

"The first thing I remember is being on the floor and telling people that I couldn't feel my arm."

It was October 2023. One moment, Spencer Wadsworth was playing in a rugby match for Keele University. The next, he was unconscious.

"I was playing full-back and this big guy came at me at full speed and there was nobody else in the way, so naturally I thought: 'I've got to get my body in front of him because otherwise he will just run through me'," he said.

Mr Wadsworth had suffered a rare injury to the brachial plexus, a group of nerves that sends signals from the spinal cord to the shoulder, arm and hand.

After exploratory surgery, he was given the news that his right arm was paralysed.

The news came just weeks after he had started a degree in biomedical science.

"I went into the surgery fully expecting to come out with full function [of my arm] again," he said.

The news for the now 20-year-old was shocking - growing up in the aptly named town of Rugby, Warwickshire, he had played the sport since he was seven.

Finding out his dominant arm was paralysed had a profound effect on his mental health, he admitted.

"It was really, really tough. It was very isolating," said Mr Wadsworth.

"I felt very alone and like I was the only person going through it.

"It was completely consuming my life."

He began to experience depression and other psychological side effects.

"It started with insomnia and then it shifted to night terrors…I would have panic attacks," he said.

But after returning home, he was told he had a visitor - from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) Injured Players Foundation.

The group is England Rugby's official charity which provides immediate and lifelong support to players who suffer a "catastrophic spinal cord or acute severe traumatic brain injury".

"After that, it was phone calls with him, little emails in my inbox from the charity saying: 'We've got this water skiing day, we think you'd be a perfect fit, do you want to come down and have a look? We've got tickets to an England box, do you want to come along?'" said Mr Wadsworth.

The charity also enabled him to meet other injured players and talk about their experiences.

The 20-year-old returned to university and despite not playing rugby any more, he is pursuing an England coaching qualification.

"To be honest with you…now it's just like I'm a normal student again," he said.

It is this support that gave Mr Wadsworth the idea to run the London Marathon in April, raising money for the charity which he said dragged him out of a pit.

With a fundraising goal of £2,500, he had raised more than £2,400 by the middle of March.

He aims to run the 26.2 miles (42km) in less than three hours and 45 minutes.

"The only thing that could justify me running a marathon would be that charity," he said.

"I can't think of a better charity – one that's closer to home, one that deserves it."

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