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SIA ambassador Dani takes on the 2026 London Marathon
Dani Czernuszka-Watts (37) from Reading is taking on the London Marathon for Spinal Injuries Association, nine years after being paralysed from the waist down, cheered on by her family of four, including three-year-old Isla-Rose.
Dani sustained a spinal cord injury in October 2017 after an illegal rugby tackle from an opponent. As a result, she is paralysed from the waist down and lives with chronic nerve pain, which she describes as feeling “like someone has flayed the skin from my waist all the way down to my toes.”
She said,
“I think the hardest part of my spinal cord injury is my neuropathic pain. I think that disables me a lot, to the point where I’m in bed for four or five days straight.”
Dani was introduced to the national spinal cord injury charity Spinal Injuries Association when she was in hospital and was visited by their support network. She received support and advice about maintaining her bladder and bowel, which have both lost function due to her injury.
She has since gone on to campaign with the charity for improved services for people with spinal cord injury, including joining their Women’s Health Taskforce, which is campaigning for better and more accessible healthcare for disabled women.
Spinal cord injury can happen to anyone at any time and the latest data shows that there are 105,000 people living with spinal cord injury in the UK today, nearly double the number than previously thought.
Dani will be taking on the London Marathon on Sunday 26 April on behalf of the charity, pushing the 26.2 miles around London’s iconic landmarks in her wheelchair.
Dani said, “In 2017, a rugby injury left me with a T10 spinal cord injury and turned my world as I knew it, upside down. I remember being petrified for my future. Very early on, the Spinal Injuries Association has been a lifeline for me, offering guidance, support and hope through some of my toughest days.
So this year I’m taking on the London Marathon to show what is possible after a spinal cord injury and to give back to the charity that has supported me and so many others in the SCI community”
