Lets Get The 1st Indian To Paralympic Wheelchair Marathon!
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
CAMPAIGN TEAM
2 Hours 20 minutes is a Half Marathon time that most runners would be proud of. Yet Shailesh Kumar, 23 and hailing from a small village near Gaya in Bihar, achieved this time at The Wipro Chennai Marathon in January 2016 using a standard wheelchair that is not meant for any sport.
Image: Shailesh on completing his first 42.195 kms marathon
He has pushed the limits by training hard over four years to become `India’s fastest Half-marathoner on a Wheelchair’.
Here's the list of the top timings by Indians in Half-marathons on a Wheelchair:
1.Shailesh Kumar , New Delhi, Feb 2017 - 2:15 hours
2.Shailesh Kumar, Chennai, Jan 2017 - 2:20 Hours
3. Shailesh Kumar, New Delhi, Jan 2016 - 3:15 Hours
4. Parthasarathi, Chennai, Jan 2015 - 3:20 Hours
5. Vaidyanathan, Chennai, Jan 2014 - 3:35 Hours
Summary:At the international level, wheelchair marathon runners are highly regarded and compete intensely to break the barriers.
Image: Alex Zanardi and Tatyana McFadden
No wheelchair user in India, despite a few lakh of them living on wheelchair, has had an opportunity to even imagine getting to the international level in marathon events. This is why the Racing Wheelchair for Shailesh is an opportunity not just for him, but also opens up possibilities for several other wheelchair users who are super strong.
Shailesh is young, strong and has a wonderful fitness ethic. With the right Racing Wheeclahir and systematic training by sports experts, be has the potential to do well at the International level and motivate more to join the journey in the years ahead.
The Racing Wheelchair would also enable therapists and trainers to understand the dynamics of such wheelchairs and develop appropriate training methods.
A holistic training program and nutrition support will be organized for Shailesh to give him the best possible chance.
The Racing Wheelchair for Shailesh has to be imported from the U S A or U K. This will entail an outlay of INR 4.25 lakh. Experts who have been abroad and understand the dynamics of such chairs will guide this purchase. A progress report on Shailesh would be provided every six months.
A Spinal Cord Injury leads to multiple disabilities at one stroke. There is no cure for Spinal Cord Injury anywhere in the world. The effects are life-long.
A Spinal Cord Injury leads to loss of sensation, mobility of legs, hands and fingers depending on injury level, bladder control, bowel control, ability to have sex and pro-create, ease of respiration, temperature control and several attendant challenges such as bed sores and urinary track infection.
Shailesh had a Spinal Cord Injury at age 17 in June 2011 when he had a fall while his friends were carrying him in celebration of a sporting victory.
After a stint of training at the Mary Verghese Institute of Rehabilitation, an integral part of Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, Shailesh always had a smile on his face and worked extremely hard on his fitness and strength.
For him learning did not stop at the rehab centre, but he continued to pick up skills and more efficient ways of living with Spinal Cord Injury.
Volunteering for a few hours at the school every day, reading and guiding the children, roping in more educated students as volunteers, conducting tree plantation programs, temple building, taking efforts to improve quality of education at the school, doing tuitions, helping in post-harvest work and training & participating in sports, Shailesh does good work in his village.
He writes good poetry and helps his sister with her tailoring work. He has become so good at Living Well with Spinal Cord Injury that he has been recruited in a pioneering role of Inclusion Trainer at Chandigarh Spinal Rehab, a role in which he does training in Independent Living and Peer Mentoring.
Image: Shailesh - the solo rider
The Invacare Top End Eliminator OSR Racing Wheelchair is the top choice for champion racers. The relaxed head tube angle and the super-stiff, roll-formed horizontal main tube provide exceptional stability and aerodynamics.
Elango Thambiah and S Vaidyanthan, Alumnus of IIM Bangalorre, and Nath Balakrishnan, Alumnus of S P Jain Institute of Management started the Ganga Trust, which supports rehabilitation of persons with Spinal Cord Injury, on September 03, 2009. S Vaidyanathan has first-hand experience of living with Spinal Cord Injury for 26 years.
The Ganga Trust is an idea inspired by Dr Suranjan Bhattacharji, a Gandhian, who has devoted his entire life to the cause of persons with disabilities across India. Vaidyanathan is in charge of the ground-level work of The Ganga Trust. The work of The Ganga Trust has had an impact on the lives of several thousand persons with Spinal Cord Injury across India.
DISCLAIMER : The wheelchair that we propose to get for Shailesh is the model shown in this campaign. As these need customization we may slightly modify the final model we procure for him. This maybe slightly different from the visual shown in this campaign .
It’s s concept that allows a large number of funders (like you) to fund an Idea or a cause or event by giving small amounts of money online. Fueladream is a crowdfunding site and platform in India that allows for such a pooling of funds.
You can fund innovations & ideas on FuelADream and be the first to get these products or make them come true. You can also do a good turn by funding charities and causes through crowdfunding. When you fund a charity it’s more like a donation & you get small innovative rewards like a shout-out on a FB page or a thank you email from the beneficiaries.
Follow his Facebook page (and this is recommended to one and all, not just persons with Spinal Cord Injury) – Shailesh Kumar at
https://www.facebook.com/Shailesh-kumar-1713023695592829/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf
**UPDATE**
It has been a while since this campaign was run and successfully completed and during this time Shailesh has worked hard towards excelling in his sport of choice - the half marathon. Shailesh finished the Kotak Wheelchair half marathon in a blistering time of 1 hour and 45 minutes. And I must remind you that he did not use a sports wheelchair.
To compete with the best in the world He will need a world class Racing Wheelchair and thanks to this campaign we have the funds tp get one. We are in talks with a company in the USA and are all set to purchase the wheelchair that will best fit Shailesh's requirements. Meanwhile Shailesh is getting ready to transition from the normal Wheelchair to the Racing Wheelchair. Working on his body posture and position is a tough challenge but with the expert help of the physiotherapists at Chandigah Spinal Rehab we are very sure Shailesh will be able to achieve the fitness goals set for him.
Keep following this thread for more updates.
Will Shailesh make it to the top marathons in the world? Indiatimes writes about what you can do for making it happen
Scoopwhoop writes about Shailesh .. help spread the word.
Huffington post writes about Shailesh and his amazing achievements at such a tender age
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