Maxwell McKnight’s Amazing Journey
On Saturday 15 June, Maxwell McKnight, a St Neots-based 20-year-old man with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) successfully took on a massive challenge. He sumitted Mt Snowdon in a Magic X8 powerchair supplied by Sunrise Medical.
Along with Josh Wintersgill, who unfortunately was unable to join Maxwell on the day due to health considerations, Maxwell had planned for this ascent to raise funds for new powerchairs to meet the needs of SMA sufferers in the UK. The name of the Snowdon project comes from a motto close to Josh’s heart – Know No Bounds. The challenge has definitely caught wider public attention, with Maxwell already having given TV interviews. At the time of writing, the funds raised through donations to the Know No Bounds Snowdon ascent stand at £40,000 and rising. This was an incredible undertaking, and a real team effort. At Lifestyle & Mobility, we felt that the best way to start telling the story is with Maxwell’s own words. So, here is some of what he had to say about his incredible day on the mountain.
“I’ve gotta climb Snowdon with him!”
Maxwell’s story starts off with a chance encounter: “I actually met Josh [Wintersgill] at an SMA UK event and he bought the X8 and I went out on it for the first time and I was just ramming it, on the beach and up kerbs. So I was like, this is just insane…I was like, I’ve gotta climb Snowdon with him”
Soon after Maxwell came on board, Josh got Lifestyle & Mobility involved. The planning process took six months – unsurprising, considering the scale of what the two friends were aiming to achieve.
“The news spread really fast”
“The day was absolutely insane…I’ve never really experienced anything like that” says Maxwell “Lifestyle did an amazing job to get me to the top”
One look at the photos from the climb shows how treacherous the conditions were “It was scary to be honest” Maxwell acknowledges. An aspect of the journey which Maxwell hadn’t expected was the overwhelmingly positive reaction of others on the mountain to what he was trying to achieve: “Apparently it was like Chinese Whispers” Maxwell says “people behind us were hearing about us, and then that was sent back, and back, and back again. So by the end of it, people at the bottom of the mountain were hearing, like, “Oh, there’s a disabled guy going up the mountain in an off-road wheelchair” Then I had someone message me online as well…”I saw you on the mountain” Obviously the news spread really fast”
It’s clear to tell that the Know No Bounds plan was massively effective at capturing people’s imaginations.
The national media are already paying attention. Maxwell’s Know No Bounds adventure has made an appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, and the Independent newspaper has also reported on his achievement. Since there are more interviews to come, it seems this story is only just beginning!