A mum who woke up with a sore back then a week later was in hospital being treated for an abscess in her spinal column which left her paralysed is now set to climb Mount Snowdon in her wheelchair despite there being “few things (she) wants to do less” to raise money for a spinal cord charity. Jo Wright, 62, a retired IT worker, suffered a paralysing abscess in 2011, which caused her to lose mobility from the waist down and spent seven months recovering at a treatment centre.
Now paraplegic, Jo said it was time spent with Back Up, a spinal cord charity, that gave her back “her spark” and now she is tackling the highest mountain in Wales, with the help of a team of able-bodied volunteers, to raise money for the charity. Joined by a Ukrainian refugee who she is sponsoring and also has a spinal cord injury, Jo sets off on July 1 and estimates the climb will take seven to nine hours.
Jo, who lives in Basingstoke, Hampshire, with her husband, David, a 64-year-old retired civil servant, and has three children – Lizzie, 29, Sally, 26, and Tim, 24 – said: “It was kayaking and zip wiring with Back Up during my rehabilitation that helped me find my spark again. Before then, it was incredibly difficult to come to terms with being paralysed.
