Oh wow! Natasha Price is brilliant. She is an elite adptive athlete, an entreprerneur, speaker, awards winner and author. Tash is truly a woman who has overcome obstacles most of us couldn’t even begin to comprehend, and yet she is the most positive, inspiring woman I have interviewed yet! Born in England, Tash’s father was an A-League soccer player for Aston Villa, which led to some bullying at school, making life difficult for her as the family also moved around a lot due to football commitments. In year 12 she got sick and, with no support from her school after medical issues, she was kicked out. Tash went on to complete school by herself.
Upon leaving school, Tash, who has Type 1 diabetes, headed to Australia for a 12 month holiday. Her story of having her car (and insulin) stolen in a remote part of WA, and the repercussions, are a massive story in itself, but this was only the beginning of the challenges life has thrown at her. Upon returning home, she persuaded her entire family to move to Australia, before she returned, for what she thought would be a year, to the UK with her little sister to look after her while she completed her education.
At this point, Tash’s story becomes quite harrowing. She woke up on Boxing Day at a relative’s house, and was blind in one eye. A week later, she lost the sight in her other eye and yet the doctor’s didn’t know what it was, so they didn’t offer any treatment. As a result, Tash suffered permanent damage to her sight and has never recovered any sight in one eye, and has limited vision in the other. The doctors still couldn’t work out what was wrong.
She later went on to lose the use of the lower half of her body and then, cruelly (and very fast), became completely paralysed to the point of not being able to even speak. It took four years of rehab for Tash to regain some independence and at that stage, she managed to return to her beloved Australia to be reunited with her parents. But she was bedridden and very unhappy.
Then, in 2017 she watched the Brisbane Marathon from her sick bed and told her fmily that she was going to compete the following year…and she did! Despite just about everything that could go wrong, going wrong, she completed the marathon which led to a training camp for wheelchair atheletes, which led to her trying to find a coach. Enter Adam Shepherd.
These days Tash and Adam run InvincAble – giving visibility to disability and empowering people regardless of ability, they do a lot of motivational speaking, coaching and consulting on Diversity and Inclusion. She has even become an author! Tash’s story is truly inspirational, and if you realise what she has overcome herself, it should put any of your own issues into perspective. I can’t wait to see what she does in the future. She’s amazing!
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