BROADCASTER and DJ Adele Roberts has teamed up with British Paralympic gold medallist and marathon world record holder Richard Whitehead for a new TV show to promote inclusivity in sport.
Last year keen runner Adele became the fastest woman to run the London Marathon with a stoma bag, finishing the race in 3:30:22, achieving a Guinness World Record following her cancer battle. Richard meanwhile runs with prosthetic legs, as he has a double through-knee congenital amputation.
But while the pair are used to competing at the highest level despite their disabilities, for Debra Sales-Tiffin, from Essex, the running track was a new experience. She takes part in Dare to Defy on Amazon Prime after being diagnosed with osteoporosis at the age of just 59.
Debra, who works as a Health and Safety Lead in a large organisation, said: “I thought I would be fine because I’m quite healthy.
“Then I saw on the doctor’s computer screen that it said I had osteoporosis, and I was so shocked and surprised. I was also really scared. I just thought, ‘What does that mean? Am I going to keep breaking my bones all the time?’ Everything was a blur. After my diagnosis, I started looking at what I could do to help myself. I was looking into exercise like running and anything that would give an impact to improve my bone strength.
“I’m a swimmer and volunteer beach lifeguard, but I changed my whole exercise outlook so that I could incorporate weight bearing and muscle strengthening exercises. I went from hating running to really enjoying it. “There has been such a big difference for me when it comes to exercise.”
The Sunday Express is campaigning to raise awareness of this silent disease, and encourage 100,000 people to use the Royal Osteoporosis Society’s risk checker to check their likelihood of getting it.
She added: “One of the things that got highlighted in the programme is that people don’t want to talk about women’s problems – things like the menopause and osteoporosis. If by appearing on this show I can help just one person to improve their life somehow, then that would be amazing.
“People are prepared to put money into a pension for their old age, but they don’t seem to be prepared to invest in their health or their body. My advice is invest in your body just as much as you do with your pension. Yes, you can have a lovely pension, but if you’re not healthy enough to enjoy that then what’s the point?”
* Dare to Defy is available now on Amazon.
* Try the risk checker visit: theros.org.uk/risk-checker. Donate to the ROS theros.org.uk/donation/
