How the Fund supported Ambassador Dan Pelling
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In August 2000, aged just 20, Senior Aircraftman Dan Pelling’s life changed forever when he was involved in a serious hit and run accident, which left him paralysed from the chest down.
Keen to remain independent, in 2003 Dan became the Fund’s youngest Housing Trust occupant when he moved into a bungalow in Horsham, close to his family. The property had been adapted to have step-free access, as well as an accessible bathroom and kitchen. Since then, the Fund has been by his side to support him and his family.
Dan had always been interested in engineering and aircraft and joined the RAF at his Nan’s suggestion after he discovered there were no apprenticeships available within the aviation industry. Both Dan’s Nan Violet and Grandad Eric served in the RAF so Dan followed in their footsteps and joined in 1997.
Just three years later, Dan’s career came to an end when he was knocked down during a deployment to Italy. He was treated in Italy and then brought back to a specialist spinal injuries unit in the UK at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury. A year later he was medically discharged from the RAF.
Dan, 41, said: “I do not remember a down day since my accident. The only low point I remember is when I was told I would not be able to walk again. I remember saying ‘well can you end my life’ to the doctor and then my mum wailing. The doctor replied ‘of course we’re not going to do that’ and my next question was about how my hair looked as I knew I had stitches on my forehead.”
“I have this positivity about my life because I have three really important things, my family, my friends and the Fund. If I didn’t have just one of those things life would be really different. I have met other people in my situation who do not have the support I have and it seems to me they have not come to terms with their disability like I have, and how their life has changed.”
As well as providing a home for life, the Fund has updated Dan’s adapted property to meet his changing needs. We recently further enhanced Dan’s kitchen and garden, providing accessible kitchen units and landscaping the garden so it’s easy for him to manoeuvre in his wheelchair and remain as independent as possible.
The Fund has also been able to help Dan pursue new interests like basketball and wheelchair rugby by helping to pay for the specialist wheelchairs he needs to compete. Dan has risen from being a team player to coaching at the Sussex Tigers basketball club.
He said: “I play sport for the fitness aspect as well as the social aspect. It’s good to be with other people in a similar situation with similar disabilities. When I started to go I thought I could not play basketball standing up let alone in a chair but now not only do I play but I'm a coach in wheelchair basketball and rugby. Seeing people come out of their shell, becoming more confident, starting to embrace their disability rather than being put down and feeling down by it, is amazing. I never thought I'd be this kind of guy."