Vania’s Story: City Skills
2 April 2025
Meet Vania:
– A retired teacher
– Loves music, folk music in particular
– Enjoys spending time with her family, especially on canal boats
The day Vania sustained her spinal cord injury was like any other. It was summer, and she was heading to her local shop to buy ingredients for a roast. She had no idea her life was going to completely change.
“As I was crossing the road this car appeared. I remember thinking ‘surely you’re going to stop, aren’t you?’. It didn’t stop
“Suddenly, I remember being on the windscreen of the car, then launched across the road underneath a parked car. I tried getting up but that’s when I realised I couldn’t move or feel my legs.”
Vania had sustained a complete spinal cord injury, so she now uses a wheelchair to get around.
In the early days of her injury, this felt like a complete upheaval – not just for Vania, but for her family as well. They had to put all of their plans on hold.
“In the first place, I think my family was suffering more than me. We had been planning to sell our home and buy a canal boat to live on – but suddenly I was facing the prospect of never being able to walk again.”
Fortunately, Back Up was there to support Vania. After meeting our team in hospital, she signed up for our ski karting course. This opened her eyes to what she could truly accomplish after spinal cord injury.
“The ski course was incredible. It showed me that everything is still on the table – I just need to do some things differently. If I’m able to ski after spinal cord injury, what else can I do?”
Vania came home feeling more confident, but there were still some areas she was struggling with. Although the ski course showed her the possibilities ahead, she wanted to improve her wheelchair skills. So she signed up for our Edinburgh City Skills course. This course is designed to give people with a spinal cord injury the chance to navigate cities as a wheelchair user – all in a supportive, encouraging environment.
“I felt like there were some everyday things I needed to work on. I felt confident being able to do something huge, like skiing, but I was still lacking in confidence when going out and about independently.
“I needed to just be able to do ‘normal’ stuff – and the Edinburgh course really helped me with that.”
“I finally learned wheelchair skills I was struggling to perform – like how to back wheel balance. I discovered a sense of being connected to my wheelchair, like it’s an extension of myself. We went on a long trek through Edinburgh city centre and Rhys, one of the volunteer group leaders, showed us how to safely go down steps backwards!
“When I got home from this course, the first thing I did was take the anti-tips off my wheelchair. I don’t need them to get around anymore.”
Since going on our Edinburgh City Skills course, Vania has been able to live more confidently. Not only does she feel empowered to tackle day-to-day challenges, she’s also been able to get out and have fun with her family.
“We now know that we can still do what we want to do – we just may need to do it differently. We’re not living on a house boat, but we’ve been able to go on canal boat holidays! We will have canal boats in our lives, maybe not permanently, but nothing is off the table.”
Our next City Skills course is being held in Cardiff from 2 – 7 June. Learn more and apply here.
