Since she decided to have her leg amputated in 2019, Lexi Chambers has been on a long journey. But you can't help thinking that this is just the beginning
Turning the daunting into the achievable is what Lexi Chambers does best, and the five-time Guinness World Record holder has just gone to even greater lengths by propelling her standard wheelchair the lengths of Britain! For the whole of September and into October, the former Royal Signals soldier pushed her wheelchair almost 1.000 miles from John o'Goats to Land's End to show what can be achieved with everyday equipment and to inspire people to take the first turn of the wheel towards greater independence and wellbeing.
The 45 year old who already held four world records for challenges using a non-sports wheelchair, faced long days and huge, sinew-straining climbs that would challenge profesional cyclist as she completed at least a marathon for 36 days out of the 45-day challenge.
Lexi, who has Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) and fibromyalgia, and had her left leg amputated below the knee in 2019, consumed 6000-calories a day to fuel her Herculean efforts to change perceptions of disability and to raise funds for charity.
“It was very tough at times, and I had to push myself up a number of excruciating climbs knowing that any slip could send me hurtling back down to the bottom!” says Lexi.“The whole experience was quite isolating, but it was something I’ve wanted to accomplish ever since I decided to have my leg amputated, and there was never a moment when I remotely thought about quitting. And the good times will live long in my memory; people cheered as I went past, and cars and lorries beeped their support. Then, as I got to the villages near where I live, hundreds of schoolchildren came out to greet me, and people came out of the shops to line the route. It was so surreal and really humbling.
“It is a great personal achievement but more importantly it sends out a message that you don’t need loads of equipment to get active. You can just get out there and do something. It doesn’t have to be a big challenge, but if this inspires people to do more and to be more independent then the hard miles will have been well worth it.”
Lexi has been living with debilitating and constant pain for the best part of 20 years. In that time, she has undergone 20 operations, starting with the removal of a toe and culminating in the amputation of her left leg. But none of these interventions has given her a pain-free life.
Before she underwent pioneering TMR surgery more recently, Lexi was taking an ever-increasing cocktail of painkillers and opiates to quell the excruciating pain that was initially caused by hammer toes and which eventually led to CRPS.
Living with constant pain
“No-one could really get to the bottom of the CRPS, and you start to wonder if it is all in your head,” says Lexi. “At its worst, I was in constant pain – I’d have burning and stabbing sensations – and I would get so depressed that I wouldn’t go out for months at a time.
“I loved being in the Army, but I began noticing pain whenever I ran. It was the start of a nightmare. Surgeons broke bones then reset them, cut and lengthened tendons, and performed joint release surgery. After one operation, I was told that I would be able to run after 12 weeks, but six months later I was still off work and couldn’t walk.”
The pain became so unbearable that Lexi decided her leg should be amputated. But even that didn’t get rid of the CRPS, and after the amputation she had to deal with Phantom Limb Pain as well.
“I still have CRPS, but the pain has reduced a little after I had the pioneering surgery on the nerves in my amputated leg,” says Lexi. “Before that operation, I thought I would never be able to walk again, but it has given me a huge psychological lift and I’m doing things that I never thought would be possible. I had the feeling that my life had almost gone, but suddenly having the possibility of doing the things I love again is amazing.”
One of the things that Lexi loves is to set herself ever more difficult physical challenges. Which is why in September, armed with a set of playlists, gels and protein snacks, and a standard wheelchair with a tracking wheel, she took to the road once again. Her latest achievement has very recently been verified by the Guinness Book of Records and, now that has been cleared, it is the fifth time Lexi has written herself into the record books.
“The route was much hillier than I imagined it would be – the trickiest day was going up an 18% incline that also had a 12% camber,” she says. “I got caught in a downpour and there was nowhere to pull over, so I just had to keep going. I could barely see in front of me and I was having to use my left arm, which is my weakest, to continually cope with the camber.
I climbed the height o Mount Everest one-and-a Hal times. The entire route was a region o I've uphill to one downhill
“Pushing a wheelchair in the wet can be dangerous as your hands can slip and it would have been easy to roll back down. There were lots of other big hills to get over, and we worked out that I climbed the height of Mount Everest one-and-a- half times. The entire route worked out at a ratio of five uphill to one downhill!
“I encountered all sorts of surfaces as we had to avoid the busier roads for safety. One road had a crumbling surface that was very rocky, and at times I was barely able to move. On one day, in Cumbria, I had to deal with eight solid hours of inclines that ranged from between 12% and 20%. It was so exhausting, but there was nothing else to do but carry on.”
Lexi was backed by a support vehicle and stayed at guest houses, flats and hotels along the way. She pre-weighed portions of muesli and granola for breakfast but then had to grab food in the evening wherever she was staying.
“The logistics were quite tough as some of the places we stayed in were an hour from the finish line, and in some places we had to stay in accommodation that was up several flights of stairs, which made life a bit difficult after a day of wheeling! But the team and my partner, who was there every day for the first three weeks, were fantastic.”
Lexi’s playlists, which had helped her through her other record-breaking events (see p53), were an integral part of the mission, with upbeat tracks and the movie themes from Rocky and Gladiator helping her conquer the toughest gradients.
“It was something that helped me keep my arms moving when they didn’t want to!” she says. “The one thing I found incredibly difficult, and which was totally unexpected, was the sheer isolation that I felt. The support crew were together and focused on tasks such as the huge amount of recording and paperwork needed for the Guinness Book of Records. They were doing their job and I was doing mine, but strangely there was very little overlap so it often felt really lonely when I was out on the road.
“I also had to deal with the CRPS and fibromyalgia flare ups throughout the challenge, but I had expected that. I had to stop once as it completely floored me, and my energy levels were so low I wasn’t sure I would complete the day. But I got through it, and my body was generally ok.”
Lexi has already had 20 surgeries and is now scheduled for another operation on the neuromas in her stump.
“The neuromas constantly battle with the CRPS; one sets the other off and vice versa. But unfortunately, there is no cure for CRPS, or any surgery that helps,” says Lexi, who is currently relaxing and recovering but is already planning her next challenge – to wheel around all eight of the venues for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup in England next August.
“It’s great to be the first to do something. I’ve experienced that feeling a few times now, but this feels like a mind-blowing achievement. I do these challenges in a standard wheelchair to show people you don’t need an expensive chair to be active.
“Don’t be daunted and don’t put barriers there just because you use a wheelchair. You can go out there and your chair will survive it. You can start small and then build your fitness, but the main point is that you will be able to enjoy your life more and be a bit more independent.
“The feedback from this challenge has been great. A little girl with cerebral palsy thought she couldn’t do anything in her life but now wants to do something like me. I’ve also had a few people with CRPS and fibromyalgia message me to ask how I did it and how they could do something, which is so wonderful to hear.
“The ultimate goal was to inspire by demonstrating that despite adversity, achieving dreams is possible.”
Lexi talks about how she deals with living in constant pain at www.blesma.org
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