‘I’ve always enjoyed doing things that are going to be difficult for me’

A University of Bristol graduate paralysed from the neck down has announced his intention to take part in the Great Bristol Half Marathon on September 23. Rob Camm will join over 10,000 runners in one of Bristol’s biggest sporting event. He will be raising money for SpecialEffect, a charity that provides technology to enhance the quality of life of disabled people.

Rob, from Breadstone in Gloucestershire, was weeks away from starting at the University of York in 2013 when he was involved in a car crash which left him paralysed from the neck down and dependant on a ventilator. However, this didn’t stop him from later completing his degree in Bristol.

“I’ve always enjoyed challenging myself and doing things that are going to be difficult for me,” Rob told Bristol24/7. “It also gives me an opportunity to raise money for SpecialEffect, who were huge for me in the early days that I was in hospital.’

Rob participating in his Tough Mudder in 2015, becoming the first tetraplegic to do so.

This is not the first physical challenge he has undertaken. Rob became the first tetraplegic to complete a Tough Mudder challenge in 2015, controlling his quadbike-mounted wheelchair with his chin. Alongside a team of friends and family that completed the 12-mile course with him, Rob raised £20,000 for SpecialEffect.

Rob first met SpecialEffect when he was intensive care. “They provided me with an eye-gaze computer so I could move the mouse by looking around the screen and blink to click,” recalls Rob. “It was the first thing I was able to do by myself, which was absolutely amazing at the time.”

When Rob’s place studying Politics and Philosophy at the University of Bristol was confirmed in 2014, the charity provided voice recognition to make writing essays easier. He graduated with a first-class degree in 2017.

Rob graduating with his First Class Honours degree from the University of Bristol in 2017.

Joining Rob in running the half marathon are eight others, including family members, friends and his carers. They are all currently in the middle of training, with Rob planning to use the same all-terrain wheelchair used during his Tough Mudder due to Bristol’s fondness for cobbles.

The 13-mile distance is anticipated to be the biggest challenge for Rob, who needs to train his neck muscles to control his chin-operated wheelchair. “It’s further than I have ever gone before, so that will take a quite a bit of training,” he admits. The team say they aim to complete the race in two-and-a-half hours.

Rob aims to raise money for SpecialEffect, a charity that improves the quality of life for disabled people through technology.

The team are also having to factor in a few more logistical considerations than most other runners. Rob will tow batteries for his wheelchair in a trailer behind him (“just in case, or I’ll be stuck under the Suspension Bridge”) and an emergency bag will be carried by his carers.

“It might be a bit grim if it rains,” Rob says, “although if it snows everyone can just get on a sledge behind me!”

When asked what his next challenge would be, Rob says he would like to climb Mount Snowdon. Luckily, a previous excursion up Pen Y Fan where they took the wrong, less accessible route hasn’t put him off: as well as having to negotiate a few kissing gates, they also had to leave the spare batteries half way up to collect on the way down. But as Rob puts it in his unfailingly cheerful style: “Coming down is actually pretty easy from a battery point of view.”

To sponsor Rob in Bristol half marathon, go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/rob-camm-marathon. To read his blog, visit www.cammpaign4rob-co-uk.stackstaging.com