A Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) admin support worker who was left paralysed from the waist down is forging an inspiring new career as a champion wheelchair tennis player.

Tabitha Fung has worked in the Clinical Labs at QEHB since December 2017. In 2014, she was a healthy 31-year-old law graduate with a busy job, until she woke up one morning to find she had no feeling from her waist down. Doctors were, and still are, baffled by her condition, which has left Tabitha confined to a wheelchair. She says: “It was a very scary time and despite having tests, I still have no diagnosis. Unfortunately, I have deteriorated further since the initial onset and have lost some of my core strength and movement, and the use of two of my fingers on my right hand.”

However, Tabitha’s life then changed again, this time for the better, when a friend encouraged her to try wheelchair tennis. She refused several times due to her lack of interest in sport but eventually gave in. “I caved and went to an open day at Cannon Hill Park and really enjoyed the session, much to my surprise.

“I was told there was a regular group session every Friday evening at Billesley Indoor Tennis Centre so I started training there. I also train on a Wednesday evening and have a weekend private outdoor coach at Old Hill Tennis Club.”

Tabitha spends between six and nine hours a week training, as well as working full-time, and that her volunteer coach at Billesley, John Dudek, has been a huge influence. “John has encouraged me massively and been involved in my coaching from the moment I started. John and his wife very generously gifted me my tennis wheelchair and I will be forever grateful to them for their kindness and support.

“Apart from spending a month in hospital in 2016, I don’t think I have stopped playing.

“I did try other Para Sports but tennis is most definitely my passion.”

Group sessions at Billesley Indoor Tennis Club take place at 18:00 – 20:00 on Wednesdays and 18:00 – 20:00 on Fridays, and are open to all abilities.

Tabitha is classed as a quadriplegic player as her disability affects three limbs (both legs and her right hand) and she has to strap her racket to her hand. She began competing in the novice division of the National Wheelchair Tennis Series just six months after beginning playing. She says: “My tennis club heavily encouraged me and despite being beaten 6-0 over and over again I didn’t let it put me off. It gave me the drive to keep training and improve my game.” That drive paid off and Tabitha began winning medals in her first year, winning Player of the Year at the National Wheelchair Tennis Finals in 2016.

In 2017, she won five golds and one silver medal in the National Wheelchair Tennis Series novice division and picked up two further gold medals and two trophies competing in Belfast. She has now moved into the main division and recently won in the mixed doubles tournament.

In June she will be competing in both singles and doubles at the Shrewsbury Summer Open and in her first international tournament at the Paratennis Open De Cagnes in Nice. She will also be competing in the Nottingham Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships, which runs alongside the British Open, in July.

Before Para Sport, Tabitha had a very different passion; she was a musician and played flute and piano from a young age. She says: “Since losing the use of two of my fingers I can no longer play, so I guess I had a gap in my life to fill. Being able to play wheelchair tennis has opened up a whole new life to me – I never really enjoyed or followed sports when I was able-bodied, so there are times I feel like I’ve rolled through the looking glass into another life.

“My family have even said how astonished they are at me having such a sport-centred life now.

“I have met some absolutely incredible and inspiring people through wheelchair tennis, many of whom I am proud to say are very good friends. Playing tennis isn’t just about playing the sport; it’s my whole lifestyle now.

“It’s a fantastic way to keep fit and it’s being able to be around other wheelchair users, which doesn’t happen in everyday life, especially for people around my age.

“Playing wheelchair tennis has been an absolute life changer for me. I had to push out of my comfort zone and was adamant I wouldn’t enjoy it but I was so wrong. It’s important to keep as mobile as possible and as well as the health benefits, and the elation when you win, you are guaranteed to make new friends along the way.”

The Tennis Foundation is the UK’s leading tennis charity. They believe anyone can play tennis, regardless of their background, age, shape or ability and provide opportunities for those who are physically or visually-impaired, deaf or who have learning difficulties.

“After starting to play, I quickly realised how isolated I was as a wheelchair user. I love my family very much and they provide me with a lot of support, however, having people around me who are wheelchair users meant I could discuss things with my friends that able-bodied people just don’t understand.”

This led Tabitha to set up an online group, Wheely Brits. Wheely Brits was set up in September 2016 to be a network of wheelchair users and their carers in the UK and to offer support, advice, friendship and empathy. “We arrange meet-ups regularly, often at various disability events, and it gives the members the opportunity to meet face-to-face. I am very proud to be the founder of the group.”

Tabitha’s advice to other wheelchair uses is simple: “Life is short so get out there, try something new and you never know, you might surprise yourself.”