Never Say Die. Lynne Barrett-Lee
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Never Say Die
Melanie Davies and Lynne Barrett-Lee
The True Story of An Exceptional Life
by Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE
I first met Mel in the mid-1980s, when we were both competing in South Wales. Right from the start, it felt as though I had known her for years. She is one of the very few people I’ve ever met who can talk more than me! She is always positive, no matter what may be happening in her own life, and it really seems that nothing will stand in her way, mostly because Mel just won’t let it. She always shows an infectious optimism, confidence and gritty determination, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable adversity. It is that incredible stubbornness that is evident in everything she does and makes everyone around her think that they should be doing more.
For some, this book may be an uncomfortable read at times. Melanie certainly pulls no punches in describing in detail the everyday problems encountered by many wheelchair users. It is also an uplifting experience, a bit like meeting Melanie herself. It takes twenty years and a lot of heartache until she feels she has control of her life when she launches the TREAT Trust charity.
Time and again throughout the book you will find yourself wondering what else fate can throw at Melanie, and although she has had to deal with more than most, there are parts that made me laugh out loud as a fellow wheelchair user because I understand some of the experience. And what could be better than a fairytale ending to rival that of any Mills & Boon romance?
Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE
November 2008
Table of Contents
I don’t know how long it was before I fully woke up, but when I did everything felt different. My eyes opened and for a moment it seemed that I must have been hit on the head. There was no pain at all but a face loomed above me. A manly face. Rugged. Unfamiliar. Concerned. I wanted him to save me, but straight away I noticed that there was worry in his expression and sadness in his eyes. He asked me a question but I didn’t really hear it. I felt terrified. Why was he looking at me that way? Then he asked me again, and this time I did hear: ‘Can you move your feet for me, sweetheart?’ I had no choice but to answer with a question of my own, because I didn’t understand what was happening. Where were they? Where were my feet and my legs? Where was the rest of my body?
He was far too old to be my boyfriend. Not only that, he was too short as well. More seriously, though, he was also too wild. He’d been in trouble with the police, he was long-term unemployed and he was unquestionably Not Good Enough for me. In summary, he was all the things that inflame anxious parents when their naïve and impressionable fourteen-year-old daughters get involved with unsuitable nineteen-year-old boys. But I was fifteen by now, and I knew better.
I was also a very good actress, as my drama teacher had often commented upon.