WheelPower is the national charity for wheelchair sport and based at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, birthplace of the Paralympic Movement.

Brown took the opportunity to talk about his experience at London 2012 and the impact wheelchair rugby has had on his life since a spinal cord injury in 2005.

He described how he has benefited first hand from WheelPower through the Inter Spinal Unit Games and how he came to Stoke Mandeville Stadium to first see wheelchair rugby, where he finally discovered what his focus in life was going to be.

"Sport has changed my life and WheelPower helped me right from the beginning," he said.

"My injury had a massive impact on my self-confidence and for a while I was nervous about people's views and perceptions of me and my injury.

"Wheelchair rugby was the turning point, and I haven't looked back."

Steve Brown addresses WheelPower's top supporters and donors to thank them for the impact they have made to the lives of disabled people ©Twitter



After years of training and hard work, Brown was granted support towards his own sports wheelchair from WheelPower's Wheel Appeal, the chair that would later take him to London 2012, where he captained the Team GB wheelchair rugby team.

Brown used his time to express how sport can change the lives of the 1,200 or more people that become disabled every year in the UK.

He thanked the representative of the many organisations in attendance that donate and support WheelPower to provide 38,000 opportunities for disabled people to play sport ever year.

WheelPower's trust fundraiser Chris Large added: "In the last financial year, with the generosity and help of our supporters WheelPower, raised £1.2 million for the benefit of disabled people."

"We held our London Reception to introduce donors to our new projects and ideas to get even more disabled people playing sport.

"It was a chance to thank them and inspire them through the story of Steve Brown who WheelPower supported on his journey to reach the Paralympic Games."

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