Conservationist Sacha Dench, who suffered life changing injuries after plummeting 150 feet and shattering 20 bones leading to both her lower legs being amputated, is walking again in a miraculous medical breakthrough.
Sacha, dubbed the ‘human swan’, encountered an accident during the completion of the Round Britain Climate Challenge in September 2021. The mishap occurred when the paramotor, or motorized paraglider, the now 49-year-old was piloting collided mid-air with the paramotor of cameraman Dan Burton.
The challenge aimed to raise awareness of climate change. During the accident, Ms Dence broke 20 bones, sustained life-changing injuries to her legs, and endured many complex surgeries.
Fighting against all the odds, Sacha is standing on her feet again. A new crowdfunding campaign “New Legs for the Human Swan” was launched to equip Sacha with the prosthetics she needs to get her back on her feet, continue her journey, and get our next set of exciting expeditions off the ground.
She said: “I’m so thrilled that they did try, and with help I have come a long way to walking again, and met amazing people on the way. I can walk a bit and it has been a gift to see the world through the eyes of those with mobility challenges – the most resilient, innovative, supportive bunch of people I will ever meet.
“When friends in the amputee community pointed me towards a man called Ryan Blanck who had invented a device that can give me the gift of hiking and running again, but as an exoskeleton that didn’t require amputation, it sounded too good to be true.
“But it isn’t, and it has opened up whole new possibilities for life and returning to conservation expeditions that involve exploring remote areas I can’t currently reach.
“I will need a lot of training to learn to use the Exosym, but I’m excited to see what me and my exoskeleton legs can do, and to share the journey with others who might benefit from them too.
“Better still, it would be amazing if our expeditions could inspire some to invent devices that solve other mobility challenges.”
In 2017, she gained recognition as the ‘Human Swan’ following her remarkable 7,000km paramotor journey from the Arctic to the UK, aimed at addressing the decline in Bewick’s Swans.
The project was honored with the Environmental Campaign of the Year award. Sacha also secured the Guinness World Record for crossing the Channel in a paramotor and made history by becoming the first woman in 50 years to win the Britannia Trophy for an outstanding aviation achievement.
Following the loss of her family home in the destructive Australian wildfires of 2020, she shifted her focus to climate change and initiated the Round Britain Climate Challenge in 2021.
