by Nicola Forman

A wheelchair athlete’s chances of reaching the next Paralympics have been helped by a cash donation.
Steve Brown, from Sittingbourne, has been given more than £3,200 towards a specially adapted wheelchair by the Isle of Sheppey Round Table.
Mr Brown, 27, a tetraplegic, lost the use of his lower body after a fall from a balcony in Germany in 2005 and plays wheelchair rugby. The former Borden Grammar School pupil, of Farm Crescent, missed out on a place at the Beijing Paralympics last year after he appeared on BBC TV’s Olympic Dreams.
Despite the glare of cameras, Steve accepted the bitter blow with good grace, and was filmed stepping up his fitness training to make sure he will be picked for the 2012 London Paralympics.
He was given the deposit for the wheelchair during the Round Table’s meeting last week by immediate past chairman Gary Croucher and Mayor of Swale, Cllr Alan Willicombe.
Mr Croucher said: “The chair costs £4,500 and we’ve so far raised £3,200 through various events, so we’ve been able to put down a deposit. We hope this helps him get to the 2012 Olympics.”
Mr Brown refused to let his disability get him down and was inspired to take up wheelchair rugby after seeing it played at the spinal unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire.
His weekly training sessions include 50 daily lengths of a swimming pool, weight and gym training, and squad practice. His annual training costs are more than £12,000 and he drives between the wheelchair rugby training base in Aylesbury and his Sittingbourne home every day.
Steve was recently among 20 top-level Kent athletes to be awarded £1,000 funding from Kent County Council to help them in their quest for Olympic and Paralympic success.