A POLICE officer is set to climb Everest after practising up and down her staircase during lockdown.
PC Jessica Sowden first planned to trek up Everest in 2018 but was stopped in her tracks when she developed sciatic pain in her right leg that left her bedridden in weeks.
In January 2019, she underwent surgery and the road to recovery began with help from the Police Rehabilitation Centre, Flint House, in Goring, South Oxfordshire.
Now she is repaying the favour by fundraising for the centre and achieving her dream of getting to Everest basecamp.
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Slowed by a global pandemic, Ms Sowden trained by repeatedly climbing her stairs the height of Mt Snowdon in Wales during lockdown to prepare for her planned trip.
On Saturday, she will be flying into Nepal before her assent to base camp begins, aiming to reach her goal on March 29.
Crushed by her initial diagnosis she said that it was "really disheartening" to have to cancel her first 2018 planned trip.
She said: “I had just got into a place where I felt I was in a really good head space, really motivated for the future and what I wanted to do.
“I was a fit, active person. So, from being active and being a frontline officer, I went to being sat on a sofa or led down in bed for the best part of six months.
“It was really demoralising, really hard to be alone as well and in pain constantly – it was just horrible and it took quite a lot to come back from.”
Determined not to be defined by her injury, she was determined to prove to families struggling with bereavement and trauma that you can achieve your dreams.
She said: “I didn’t want my injury be the be-all and end-all. I’ve sadly seen too many people, especially in the police, where they lose something.
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“I wanted to show that you can have an injury, you can overcome it and not only can you overcome it, you can exceed your own and other people’s expectations.
“I have not wanted to impress anyone, I have wanted to inspire people to see if I can do it, they can do it as well.
“I deal with a lot of people who go through really traumatic events in their life, and I think when you see that, some of the things aren’t as significant when you think you have got problems.
“I think that’s helped, that resilient side of me and the role and I am grateful for the opportunities that I have.”
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