'It Changed My Life': Invictus Athlete Describes The Effect Of The Games

The Invictus Games 2018 are now just days away and in the lead up to the big event in Sydney, Forces News has been speaking with an athlete who is due to compete.

Naomi Adie is due to take part in five events in wheelchair racing and is one of the 72 athletes representing Team UK in athletics.

Ms Adie served for just over 14 years in the Royal Air Force as a Survival Equipment Fitter.

She was medically discharged in 2014 after suffering from a spinal injury and a mental health condition after a training incident and wear and tear from two tours in Afghanistan.

"When you get told you're getting medically discharged you don't go back to work, so I felt very lonely - my house became my safe place and that actually exasperated my mental health condition."

She described her suffering with mental health as her "brain working against" her.

Naomi watched the first Invictus Games in London in 2014 on television from her home and said watching it was incredible but at the time was still in a "dark place" and said, "I can't do that."

"The light switch went on in Toronto when they said they were potentially going to do para ice hockey."

"It changed my life."

She added: "It's the reason I'm sat here today doing an individual sport because it gave me that confidence to push myself and know that I can do anything that I've set my mind to."

Naomi says wheelchair racing gave her the motivation to go faster and want to do better and that the sport has helped her condition as well as improving her mental health.

It's also boosted her physical fitness, as she joked and said: 

"I quite like that my biceps are bigger than some men."

With the support from her family and daughter, she is now hoping to show other mothers that they can do it.

Through an online crowdfunding campaign, she managed to raise enough money to afford a specialised racing wheelchair.

"I'm really humbled that when I get to Sydney it's not just me in that chair on the start line - it's me and 40 plus people that paid for my chair to be there."

She's dedicated the chair to a member of the Royal Marines who lost his life.