Eva’s story: Being a young volunteer
4 March 2025
Meet Eva:
- Loves crochet, musicals, and animals
- Aunty to a one-year-old baby nephew
- Volunteers with Back Up on our Youth Advisory Group (YAG)
At Back Up, we’re here to help people affected by spinal cord injury thrive at any age. To achieve this, we are the only charity in the UK with dedicated services for children and young people with a spinal cord injury. We’re here to give them a supportive community, where they can rediscover how to live life to the full.
One of the young people we’ve supported, Eva, sustained her spinal cord injury when she was just ten years old.
“Eva sustained a spinal cord injury after she had an AVM, a blood clot on her spine, which burst and damaged her spinal cord. By the time the hospital saw it, the damage had already been done.
“It’s been four years now, and we’ve only just felt like some normalcy has returned”.
Eva’s injury means that, although she is able to walk, she uses a wheelchair daily to manage fatigue. However, the challenges faced by people with a spinal cord injury aren’t always visible.
“There was a lot of trauma after Eva sustained her injury. When she came home from the hospital she had to sleep downstairs for a while as we readapted her room. She was also very active before she sustained her injury, but suddenly she was unable to just walk down the street to the shop by herself.”
Eva and her family knew she needed to regain her confidence – and Back Up was here to help with that. Rachel says that Back Up supported her whole family. Our education inclusion service was there to help her navigate her daughter’s return to education, and Eva made use of our confidence-boosting courses.
“The Multi Activity Course was the best thing for Eva after her injury. She was a bit nervous about going at first – but she was so glad that she did it.”
On our Multi Activity Courses for children and young people, participants are able to try a range of confidence-boosting outdoor activities. Importantly, it also gives children and young people the opportunity to meet others in a similar situation, who have lived long-term with a spinal cord injury.
“She loved the course as soon as she went on it. She was able to meet people similar to herself. It’s like her spinal cord injury wasn’t an issue. Everybody was the same.
“Eva loved all the activities, but her favourites were canoeing, zip-wiring, and archery – I think she was almost a bit overwhelmed that she was able to access everything!”
Since boosting her confidence through our services, Eva decided she wanted to give something back. We offer young people many opportunities to get involved as a volunteer. In Eva’s case she joined our Youth Advisory Group. This is a group of young volunteers, who meet regularly to ensure our services are relevant to what young people affected by spinal cord injury need.
“Eva really enjoyed the YAG weekend this year. The young people there were able to work as a team, discussing what matters to them, and making sure their voices are heard by Back Up.
“The YAG is also a great chance for young people with a spinal cord injury to socialise. It means that no one is left out.”
Now, Eva is feeling more confident in her day-to-day life – but she is still keen to keep being involved in Back Up’s services. She is planning on joining our Bristol City Skills course, which gives young people the chance to practice wheelchair skills in real-life environments.
“Back Up has done Eva a world of good. It’s really helped her get out there!”
Need support after spinal cord injury? You can register for support here.
Inspired to give something back yourself? You can learn more about volunteering with us here, and you can also make a donation to ensure our services will support more people like Pete in the future.
