Brittany McCormick learned to walk just before the lockdown and spent the last two years getting really good at it; now, she is committing to walking 100km for charity.
Cape Town, South Africa (06 April 2022) – Brittany McCormick plans to walk 100km to raise R75,000, which she hopes to use to purchase wheelchairs for people in need. Brittany has Cerebral Palsy Quadriplegia, so this walk will push her own limits in honour of others.
Brittany was born at 25 weeks premature and, a few months later, diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy Quadriplegia of high muscle tone. She spent the first three months of her life in intensive care. She was fed through a tube and endured multiple blood transfusions.
The prognosis was that she wouldn’t reach her 18th birthday. Brittany shattered that prognosis by celebrating her 25th birthday. Doctors also told her parents that she would never walk.
“Doctors told my parents that I would never walk and be bound to a wheelchair. Regardless of what was said, I managed to learn to crawl. I still crawl to this current day at the age of 25.
As a child, I had many physiotherapy appointments to improve my mobility; during one of my appointments with the physiotherapist in 2020, just before the lockdown took place, they managed to get me on the treadmill and teach me to walk without assistance.”
Learning to walk has been a highlight in her physio, so Brittany has decided to walk for others and raise funds while doing it! During the lockdown, Brittany did as many virtual walks as possible to keep her progress going.
“Near the end of 2021, the pipes beneath my wheelchair had cracked. We had sent it in for a service, and I had to be without it for ten days.
During that process, I was humbled to understand and truly see what it’s like for other people with disabilities who don’t have the means to fix or replace or can’t afford a wheelchair.
This struck a string within my heart. Why not use the very thing I am still learning to do and that some people with no disabilities at times may take for granted to make an impact, make a difference, and make a dream come true.”
Brittany hopes to walk 100km and raise R75,000, which will be used to purchase wheelchairs for students at Paarl School for children with disabilities.
“The goal for the walk fundraiser through the help of BackaBuddy is to raise funds for the school of disabilities in need of wheelchairs and other necessities and make an impact in others’ lives.
To show that the impossible can be possible regardless of what you are faced with, to know that the little steps create the most significant milestones.
With the assistance of BackaBuddy, I aim to be walking 100kms in 6 months or more to raise R70-80 thousand for the Paarl School in Cape Town.”
You can support Brittany’s cause via BackaBuddy here. She is very excited to get started on her 100km walk.