Teen learned how to ski again after losing leg

A teenager who lost a limb after being diagnosed with a bone tumour is helping to get more people into skiing - a sport, she says, that has transformed her life.

Annabel Kiki was diagnosed with a tumour in her left leg at the age of 13 and needed to have an amputation.

Now 16, Annabel, from Cannock, a keen skier before her operation, is supporting a fundraising campaign by Disability Snowsport UK (DSUK) in aid of grassroots adaptive snowsports.

Since losing her leg, she has become not only an adaptive skier, but a model and striker for the England Amputee Football Association women's team.

"In 2022, one of the worst things in the world happened to me," she explained. "I started the year with two legs and ended it with one."

But she added: "I don’t like to think of myself as disabled, I like to think of myself as enhanced.

"I still wanted to achieve my dreams I had before my amputation, even though they’re adapted now, just like me."

Annabel relearnt how to ski with the help of DSUK and said it was thanks to them that she had got back her confidence.

“I don’t know what I would have done if I couldn’t relearn to ski. It’s always been such a big part of my life," she said.

"Skiing was my biggest passion growing up. I love the thrill, freedom and fun of being out in the mountains."

She said skiing since her operation had helped her with other sports and pushed her to be better than she was before.

"It’s helped me achieve so much more in my everyday life – like helping with my balance and being able to walk better on my prosthetic, along with surfing and football," she said.

Annabel is now part of DSUK's 10k for £10k fundraising campaign, which is encouraging people to complete a distance-focused goal and raise money during the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.

CEO of DSUK, Virginia Anderson, said: "Adaptive snowsports provides an incredible sense of freedom to people living with disabilities and injuries.

"Annabel is a terrific example of the people this campaign is designed to support. Some people are born with disabilities – but any one of us could have our lives changed in an instant through injury or illness.

"As a small niche charity, we want to harness this incredible summer of sport and encourage people to get active and help raise funds for DSUK, so we can expand our reach and enable more people to experience the lifechanging physical, mental and social benefits snowsports provides."

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