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"Blog: “I’m proud to have achieved what I have to date”

Activity Alliance features a blog post every Friday. This year we have been sharing experiences of disabled people involved in sport and exercise at all levels. Today, we continue this theme and hear from Active Essex Ambassador, footballer and cyclist, Billy Mansell. He tells us how being active has encouraged his new lifestyle change, which has helped him stay dedicated.

Billy Mansell cycling.

Hey, my name is Billy Mansell, I am 23 years old and I am from Southend-On-Sea, Essex. I have Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Post Traumatic Migraine Disorder, depression and anxiety.

I am a campaigner from the FibroPetition team – our aim is to get Fibromyalgia recognised as a disability, and I have a personal aim to help those who have the same, or similar conditions to mine. I’m also an Active Essex Ambassador for the #EssexAll2gether campaign.

I have a multi-disciplinary approach to managing both my physical and mental health and take part in various sports, activities and exercises to help towards self-managing my health on a day-to-day basis. I stretch and walk on a daily basis, I especially love going out for walks with my family and my son – this is where a huge bulk of my motivation comes from. I try to cycle every other day, sometimes with friends but the majority of my cycling is done alone. I also try and swim as often as I can. I also compete in the Southend Soccability Football Club under the Southend Soccability Foundation.

I recently took part and competed for the Southend Soccability Football Club at the West Ham Foundation Tournament. Although we did not win we did so well as a team and club.

I first started my multi-disciplinary approach before my son was born, if it hadn’t been for him, as well as me being absolutely determined to take part in football, I believe I would not be where I am today. It did take dedication and commitment to low intensity exercise to get me into physical position to be able to compete but it got me where I am now. I am so proud to have achieved all I have to date. I know that in time there will be even more achievements and goals met.

I have really gone to the depths of feeling my pain, fatigue and mental health. But I have noticed there are so many positives to this active lifestyle change, which really has helped keep me motivated and dedicated to stay on this path.

I couldn’t be more grateful for the support I receive from friends, family, team members, clubs. I’m also really proud of my aims, which are to participate and inspire others to be active for all the right reasons. The support I have really does go such a long way for me to be able to extend support to others.

I am also proud to be an Active Essex Ambassador for the #EssexAll2gether, a campaign to inspire and promote physical and sport activity for disabled people. I recently supported the #3030Essex campaign. This campaign saw me take on the challenge of different sports, activities and exercises for 30 minutes over 30 days. The idea of the campaign was to help the Essex community be more active, as well as fundraise towards the Active Essex Foundation.

The rest of the year will see me compete in the Southend Soccability Foundation. I also aim to create my own team under the club to help there be more opportunities to those with similar conditions to mine. If possible, I hope to gain a pathway to get the right support to be able to pursue my dream to compete within cycling and football at a national level. I believe all my training to date has got me in the right position to be able to be one of the first with my health conditions to compete within these sports. I really want to reach the highest level possible that is achievable.

I also plan in the future to learn Tai Chi, and more in-depth yoga. I believe this will also really help in managing my health as I get older. I am also taking part in the Superhero Series event, Celebrity Superhero Tri, taking place this Saturday (18 August 2018).

For others looking to get active, especially those with similar conditions to mine. I would suggest seeing your GP or consultant first and gain their approval and advice to start looking at ways to introduce light graded exercises or activity in your life. Then I would start researching local things you can get involved in. Or even reach out to myself and I will do my best to help you!

You can follow Billy Mansell’s journey on Instagram: @Billyrmansell and Twitter: @BillyBoyMansell.