Doing it for Dan provided a grant for a rugby wheelchair for Toby. He now plays with a national club and is also on the team GB wheelchair rugby junior program. Toby hopes to play wheelchair rugby for his country in the near future.
In June 2021 Toby was finishing his final year of primary school and loved PE and playing rugby in Royal Wootton Bassett’s Under 11s team. Toby was beginning to struggle with his balance and this rapidly led to him completely losing control of his lower body. An MRI scan revealed a cancerous tumour wrapped around his spinal cord that spanned two-thirds of its length.
Toby endured a gruelling 8-hour operation where the surgeon could only remove 70% of the tumour because they didn’t want to affect Toby’s upper body function so Toby will continue to receive regular scans to monitor the tumour’s growth. Toby spent 2 months rehabilitating in hospital and was told he would be wheelchair-bound for life. Toby’s strength and determination has seen him adapt to his new way of life and he was keen to carry on playing sport.
Toby’s mum Leanne approached the charity about the possibility of a grant for a specially adapted wheelchair so that Toby could take part in wheelchair rugby.
Toby has been accepted on the junior development programme for Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby (GBWR) and hopes to fulfil his dream of playing for Team GB very soon.
