Wheelchair Tennis @ Wimbledon

Even on a slow news day, there is still plenty to learn about myself.

Today has been one of my better days. I woke feeling brighter than I have for quite some time. Even my sensitivity to light was noticeably less than usual. Experience has taught me not to assume tomorrow will be the same, but there is no reason not to be grateful for today.

For a long time, I tended not to write much about days like this. They did not seem noteworthy compared with the more difficult ones. I now realise that was a mistake. If I am going to document this journey honestly, I should record the good days as well as the bad. PSP is, overall, a story of loss and decline, but the brighter moments deserve to be remembered too.

That was reflected in my physiotherapy session. For the first time in days, I was able to do considerably more than I expected. It was a welcome contrast after a week that included a return of severe nerve pain and even an incident that resulted in an ambulance being called. I declined to go to hospital because, once I had recovered, I was convinced it was another manifestation of my PSP rather than something new. Whether I was right or wrong, today felt like a gift.

Later, I watched a wheelchair tennis match at Wimbledon.

As someone who now depends on a wheelchair, I naturally watched with interest. But something unexpected happened.

Within a few minutes, I had stopped noticing the wheelchairs.

I was simply watching great tennis.

I was not comparing myself with the players, just as I never compared myself with Nadal or Federer. What struck me was not that they had overcome disability. It was that they were exceptional athletes competing at the very highest level. The wheelchair was part of the game, not the story.

That thought stayed with me.

How often do we allow disability to become the defining feature of someone’s life when, in reality, it is only one part of who they are?

The lesson applies to me as well.

PSP has undoubtedly changed my life. It has taken away many things and restricted me in ways I once took for granted. But it has not taken away my ability to contribute, to encourage others, to write, to laugh, to think, to learn or to find purpose. A wheelchair changes how I move through the world, but it does not define who I am or the value I can still add.

Today reminded me of three things.

First, good days still come. They often arrive when you least expect them, and when they do, they should be embraced wholeheartedly.

Second, disability does not diminish a person’s worth. Sometimes the people who most need reminding of that are those of us living with it.

And third, despite all of today’s unexpected successes…

I still lost at chess.

Some things, thankfully, remain reassuringly unchanged.