I’m Emma, 30-year-old former Paramedic from Victoria. Life was going swimmingly for me until January 2020, when I was squashed by a tree branch while hiking in New Zealand. The branch caused 20 broken bones and left me with an incomplete Spinal Cord Injury and right sided Brachial Plexus Injury.

From the moment my legs started moving again, I was back on the bike, first needing a 3-wheel recumbent before progressing back to 2 wheels. It quickly became my happy place!

2 years ago, I raced my first Para-cycling event and despite getting smashed by almost 15 minutes, I was hooked and knew this was the pathway I wanted to take. Being a keen triathlete pre-injury, I ditched the running and swimming to focus solely on cycling and getting the body as fit and as strong as possible.

And the cool part, I’m now at the point of being competitive with the international riders and have been given the opportunity to race the 2024 Para-Cycling World Cup races in Belgium and Italy. The downside? Although I’m travelling with the Australian team, I have to self-fund the trip which is approx. $10k.

Any donations would be greatly appreciated and go towards flights and accommodation costs of the trip.