Aaron Phipps

Aaron Phipps’ Teenage Life

Aaron Phipps grew up to enjoy rollerblading, skateboarding, BMX riding and basketball, he had a normal childhood. That was until he was 15.

On 7th January 1999, he woke up with flu-like symptoms. They seemed harmless but 12 hours later he was on a life support machine. He had contracted Meningitis C which quickly got worse and he developed blood poisoning, called Meningococcal sepsis.

Doctors, along with his parents, decided to place Aaron into an induced coma that lasted for two weeks. It became clear that he had to have both legs amputated from the knee down, along with most of his fingers.

In total, he spent a year in hospital recovering and receiving treatment.

Gold Medal winning Paralympic Champion

In 2021, at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Aaron and his teammates won the first ever Gold Medal for Paralympics GB in a team sport event; however, the journey began a long time before this.

Aaron made his Paralympics debut in the famous London 2012 games, where GB Wheelchair Rugby finished in fifth place. He then took some time away from the sport to focus on his family; after which he was asked to trial for the squad leading up to Tokyo 2020.

He was selected for the squad and played an integral part in bringing home the Gold.

First disabled person to scale Mount Kilimanjaro unassisted

In 2013, Aaron was approached by fundraisers at the Meningitis Research Foundation, saying that several fundraisers were going to do the climb and asked if he wanted to take part.

His reaction? “Let’s do this!”

After 3 years of hard training, wheelchair customisation, and a trial climb of Mt. Blanc, the climb began in May 2016. After the first stage of the climb, it became more apparent he wasn’t going to be able to use his chair very much.

It was suggested that he was soon going to need assistance but he made it clear that he wanted to go as far as he can without any help.

After four hard days of crawling almost entirely on his hands and knees, he made the 6000 metre climb to the top, to become the first disabled person to scale Mount Kilimanjaro unassisted.

Honours List

• Top 100 most influential people with a disability in the UK
• First European team to win a medal in wheelchair rugby
• The first person to scale Mount Kilimanjaro on their hands and knees
• Wheelchair Rugby European Champion
• London Marathon wheelchair race 4th place UK male
• Just giving award finalist
• Raised over £250,000 for charity
• JCI UK Finalist
• National Lottery Paralympians of the Year 2021