Why amputee’s 874 miles of hell from John O’Groats to Land’s End ‘feels like therapy’

Lexi Chambers was sobbing with relief. Exhausted, bedraggled and broken, she had made it to the top of the hill in her wheelchair.

It was an agonising 16 per cent incline near the Faslane naval base; at some points the slope was so challenging, it had felt like her wheelchair was about to tip over backwards. Several times she stopped, wondering whether it would defeat her. But it did not. With Lexi Chambers, not much does.

“Worst-case scenario, I’d have crawled up it if I had to,” she says.

The Exeter Chiefs devotee is an amputee with attitude, currently churning out a marathon a day on an epic John O’Groats to Land’s End rugby adventure. She has been stopping at clubs along the way, dropping off signed rugby balls from one to the next in a uniquely punishing passing drill. It is a journey which has had her questioning her own sanity at times. So why do it? Her motivation is threefold.

“The first one is women’s rugby. I want to promote women’s rugby as much as possible. I found rugby quite late but it has become a family for me. I’ve been inspired by women’s rugby and the support around it,” she says. “If I could get 50 more people that haven’t been to a women’s game before to say, ‘All right, I’m going to give it a go’, then I’d be really happy. That’s where the relay comes into things.

“The second one is the charities I’m supporting and trying to do the best I can for. Then the third reason is to try to inspire people, if I can do it then so can you sort of thing. Just saying to people that even if crap happens – and, disability or not, it does in everyone’s life – you can get over that hurdle.

“I’ve had one lady who has the same condition who messaged me to say she had been in bed for two years because it means she doesn’t get as many flare-ups, but she had seen what I was doing and has now got herself a wheelchair and is getting out and about.

“That was her Everest – overcoming that challenge of getting out of bed – and the fact I could help her was just amazing.”

‘I’d have done it in half the time in a sport chair’

An Army veteran and former NHS nurse, Chambers is a life-is-for-living person who once dreamt of climbing Mt Everest herself. That ambition ended when she had her left leg amputated below the knee three years ago in an attempt to cure her debilitating complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). It did not.

Existing in a constant “eight out of 10” pain, she is pursuing a further amputation higher up the leg once “End2End: The Rugby Relay” is over. For the time being, the suffering of the seven-hour days on the road is helping to take her mind off the pain.

“They call CRPS the suicide disease for a reason,” she says. “This whole challenge is a big focus so I just find it helps in a weird way. It’s almost like a distraction technique. It’s like therapy.”

It will, if all goes to plan, see her become the first person to go from the top to bottom of these islands using a non-sport wheelchair.

“It’s the difference between riding one of the top-grade bikes in the Tour de France, like a Pinarello, and riding a really old boneshaker with solid tyres and one gear,” she explains. “I think I’d probably have at least cut the time in half with a sport chair.”

She wanted to use her common-or-garden chair, which she calls Garcia after the Spanish international Patricia Garcia, who played at Exeter for two seasons, to prove what was possible.

“A lot of people don’t have access to a sport chair – I don’t have one – so I’d rather do it in something that I’ve got at home,” she says. “You don’t need the best pair of trainers to go for a run. You can just go for a run wearing whatever ones you have. This is the same sort of thing, really.

“A wheelchair isn’t just there to enable you to go shopping, so go for a stroll, join in your local 5K or go do something stupid like the London Marathon.

“There are always barriers to you doing things and hopefully this can help people see that even if you’ve got barriers you can overcome them.”

‘The support has been incredible’

This is the latest in a range of more and more challenging fundraisers which will support the Exeter Chiefs Foundation and the veterans’ charity, the Aaron Lewis Foundation. Put together on the back of a cigarette packet with a group of friends from the Chiefs, who are acting as her support crew, it is 874 miles of hell.

“It has been very, very tough, far worse than I imagined. You can train as much as you like – and I’ve been doing three marathons a week – but nothing can prepare you for those hills,” she says.

In rugby terms, though, with Scotland behind her and England stretching ahead she is into the second half.

“What keeps you going on hard days are people beeping their horns, shouting support out of their car windows and running up and throwing donations to us. It’s just been absolutely incredible, something that I didn’t anticipate at all.”

As long as Garcia stays in one piece, Chambers will persevere all the way to the end.

Donate via End 2 End | The Rugby Relay. Help is available from the Samaritans. Contact them directly on their 24-hour helpline, call for free on any phone: 116 123