Mary Lamb has just spent nine days crossing northern England on the Trans Pennine Trail, not even two years after scaling the UK's three highest mountains – Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon – in quick succession. They would be remarkable achievements for anyone. For a 67-year-old woman who uses a wheelchair and lives with a degenerative muscle condition affecting her limbs, however, they seem not just impressive but highly improbable.
Mary herself would probably reject that notion outright. "I can go and do things the same as anybody else," the Wirral native says, her bright pink hair matching her feisty energy. "I just don't use two legs – I use wheels instead."
While those wheels carried her up the mountains and along the trail, it was her assistance dog, Sheldon, that made taking on these challenges possible in the first place.
Back in April, Mary travelled 250 miles from Southport to Hornsea in a specialist wheelchair, supported by a network of volunteers, including members of the British Army. "It was hard, really hard," she says of the trek she's still recovering from. By her side throughout was her Labrador, offering not only the practical assistance she depends on every day but constant companionship.
"He's walking and, being there, I can chat to him, you see, and he doesn't tell people," Mary explains.
"One day I thought, I'll let him off. It looked quite safe; there was fencing all along, no sheep around. So I let him off, and two seconds later, he was rolling in fox poo... Sheldon just makes us laugh, he's such a clown."
What to Read Next
'When you get ill, it's all taken away from you'
In 2007, when Mary was 48 and working as a personnel officer, she was diagnosed with hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsy (HNPP), a rare and incurable genetic condition that disrupts the nerves controlling movement and ultimately forced her into medical retirement.
For Mary, an active woman who used to dance, hike and "walk an awful lot", learning that she had a condition that that would affect her mobility was completely earth-shattering. "When I could walk and was bringing up the family, I had a sense of purpose. When you suddenly get ill, it's all taken away from you," she says. "You just lose everything."
The condition manifests in her arms and legs spontaneously, going into spasm, getting paralysed or collapsing, "which is what I did on the track actually. I had to get out and walk with [my walking partner] Jill holding me up because we couldn't get through a bit and my legs just totally collapsed and I fell over," she recalls.
Perhaps even more treacherously, HNPP causes her physical pain – despite most medical definitions saying episodes are painless. But Mary shares that it is, in fact, "very painful."
Strikingly, she tells her story with oodles of humour. When she explains her condition, which is caused by the lack of a gene, she jokes: "people say I have more than a gene missing, but I honestly only have one missing." When she mentions her COPD, a lung condition that makes breathing difficult, she sarcastically remarks that she "always wins the health bingo prize".
Out of the dark, thanks to a bark
When we talk, Mary is funny, confident and utterly inspiring, but she has come a long way. She describes how people shouted at her going down the street when she was still using walking sticks, because they thought she was drunk. "Because I wobbled," she explains. "And then when I used my chair, everybody wanted to know what's wrong with you, because people are so rude."
"To be honest, I wanted to curl up and die," she says of that time. It wasn't until she read an article about assistance dogs and sent an application to Dogs for Good that she took the first step towards reclaiming her life.
The charity paired Mary with Yan, a Labrador Collie mix. "He was the most amazing dog," Mary recounts. "He stayed for me for eight and a half years and just totally changed my life." Being out and about with Yan, who she describes as an "absolute nutcase", shifted people's attention away from her condition. In turn, it helped Mary rebuild her confidence and discover a new sense of purpose.
"We began with a few collections [for Dogs for Good] and then we started talking to people and we went to Brownie groups and a few church groups. Then I hit 60 and I decided to do an indoor skydive. Why not? And then I did this longest zip wire in Wales – it all took off from there."
Powered by paws
Sheldon is Mary's fourth dog. And while he makes her independent by assisting her with everyday tasks – getting dressed, opening doors, emptying the washing machine and generally fetching or picking up things – she speaks of him as a friend, someone to go through life with. "He's with me more than my husband. My poor husband. But he knows he comes second to my dog, so that's fine," she laughs.
Sheldon – along with the dogs that came before him – is the reason Mary took on the challenges. She wants to raise money for the cause that changed her life. Training a single assistance dog – including food, vet bills, trainer fees – incurs massive costs.
So far, Mary has raised £34,000 of her overall target of £37,500. £30,000 – the amount of money it takes to sponsor the lifetime costs for just one animal – is already supporting an assistance dog named Pensby. When she reaches her target, the remaining £7,500 will be used to purchase and support another puppy during its first year of training.
"We don't insist that all of our assistance dog partnerships go cross the Pennine Trail or climb Three Peaks in order to do this," Dogs for Good's Communication Manager Sarah Langford quips.
It's a witty remark but it also highlights Mary's tenacity and indomitable spirit. "People ought to wake up to this world where there's so many people in wheelchairs now, and we're not to be ignored," she says. "So I do mad things and then hope people take notice."
And they do. Mary has received hundreds of donations in support of her two challenges. "I'm not being put in a cupboard, you know. Sorry, I'm not," she says. "I'm too young to sit and do my knitting and my crocheting all the time. And daytime telly is absolutely dire."
Her next goal is to get Guinness World Records to recognise her for being the first woman in a wheelchair to conquer the Three Peaks. She's yet to receive a response, but whether or not she gets it is only a matter of time because, if one thing is certain, it's that Mary is not one to give up easily.
Support Team Sheldon by donating to Mary's fundraiser on JustGiving.
Wanda Sachs is the Multiplatform Writer for Country Living and House Beautiful, exploring the latest in gardening, wildlife and sustainable living alongside interiors and property. She is particularly interested in human-interest stories, the intersection of design and pop culture, and the evolving relationship between urban and rural life. Previously, she served as Associate Editor at The Berliner in Berlin, where she reported on culture and fashion. Wanda studied English and German at the Goethe University Frankfurt and Exeter University.
