Dizzying heights for Dyscover - Tae's tandem 🪂

We at UTILISE are excited (and nervous) to tell you all that our fantastic intern, Tae Horsfield, will be jumping from a plane, 10,000ft above the ground, in just over a month to raise money for aphasia charity Dyscover!

Tae is a wonderful person, who always puts others before herself. In her greatest feat of selflessness yet, she has taken on the challenge of a parachute jump, despite being terrified of heights, to bring support to a great cause. Tae has been volunteering for Dyscover, a charity that supports people living with aphasia, for several months. Daily sessions are run by speech and language therapists and volunteers, to provide for support for people living with aphasia as well as their family, friends and carers. They help people to develop their own communication strategies that work for them, and create a sense of community for people who often report feeling isolated as a result of their difficulties with speech, language and communication.

In Tae’s own words:

“One thing I can say is every member at Dyscover I have had the pleasure of meeting is determined to participate in all activities. I hope that I will be able to be as positive, courageous, and determined as the members at Dyscover when I jump out of the plane”.

The UTILISE team will be wishing Tae good weather and good luck on the 27th of July, with our feet planted firmly on the ground! To find out more, visit Tae’s fundraising page here.

Fundraising for Aphasia - 2023 Brighton Half Marathon

In February 2023, our UTILISE researcher, Fern, ran the Brighton Half Marathon to raise money for aphasia charity Say Aphasia.

Say Aphasia is a fantastic charity run by people with aphasia, for people with aphasia. Founded by our steering committee member, Colin Lyall, following his stroke in 2013, the charity now has 15 drop-in groups (including a Zoom group) up and running across the UK, from Brighton to Abergavenny to Darlington. These groups offer a place for people with aphasia, whether caused by stroke or other brain injury, to meet people who can relate to their experiences and provide support in the form of community. The first-hand experience of those that run the charity means that there is a unique insight into what people living with aphasia want and need in the months and years that follow the onset of their speech and language difficulties.

So, on a bright and breezy February morning, Fern, her cousin Emily, her friend Lyle, founder of Say Aphasia, Colin Lyall, and several other fundraisers, set off on the 13.1-mile run. Fern and her team managed to raise over £1500 for the charity. The fundraising links are open indefinitely, so see this page if you are interested in making a donation in support of the cause.