Recently the Kirkcudbright Rotary Club and a number of invited guests enjoyed an inspiring talk from Paralympian Jo Butterfield at the Selkirk Arms in Kirkcudbright.
Jo, who had earlier addressed a group of students at Kirkcudbright Academy, told of how whilst in the Army, a spinal tumour resulted in her being paralysed below the waist. She talked of her determination to make best of her life and how she was introduced to the sport of wheelchair rugby in early 2012 when she joined the Caledonian Crushers.
She told of how she went on to develop a passion for athletics so much so that in 2014 she was classified as a F51 disability athlete and started to compete in regional meetings in both the discus and the club throw events.
Amazingly in August that year she was selected for the Great Britain team to compete at the IPC Athletics European Championships where she set a new European record with a distance of 17.68m winning the gold medal.
More and more success followed and led to Jo achieving her lifelong ambition of winning an Olympic gold medal in the club throw final at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
