Cameron Radigan is a 17 year old Engineering Apprentice from East Ayrshire, who in September won the British Senior Para Recurve Championships which took place in Shropshire, England.
Cameron has been competing in archery for many years and always been dedicated. While attending Louden Academy, he used to go in before school started and practice in the games hall, alongside training numerous evenings a week at his local clubs.
Some history on Cameron which makes his latest title even more inspirational.
When Cameron was 2 years old he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour in his left calf muscle. With surgery they managed to remove the tumour and leave him still able to walk. However, due to the type of cancer he had, Cameron was given a 10% survival rate as the chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment was so intense. Over the years the treatment took its toll on his leg and when he was 13 years old he was solely reliant on a wheelchair. At this time Cameron and his family requested that the NHS amputate his leg so he could have the same freedom of movement he previously enjoyed. The operation eventually took place in June 2018 after 3 years of meetings to convince them that this was in his best interests. Eleven days after the operation Cameron competed for Scotland in the Junior Outdoor Championships in Shropshire. Since then Cameron has participated in numerous mainstream and para events, with below what he has competed in and his results for this year alone:
- April 3rd 2019, Silver Arrow, St Andrews – achieved a new Scottish record in the Albion event
- May 3rd 2019, Classification, Lillieshall clinic – got national Para Athlete classification
- May 11th-12th 2019, Ladies & Gents World Archery 1440, Penicuik – won Gold for U18 recurve
- May 25th-26th 2019, 2019 Open World Archery Championships – achieved a new Scottish record for the double 720
- July 6th-7th 2019, Junior National Outdoor Championships, Shropshire – was Ranked 6th in the UK
- July 27th – 3rd Aug 2019, Youth Festival and the Youth Commonwealth Championships, Shropshire. Won an individual Youth Commonwealth Championship Gold for Cadet recurve Won an International Team Gold for Cadet Recurve
- September 14th-15th 2019, British Disability, British Para Open Mens Recurve Champion 2019
Cameron was also the recipient of an SDS bursary this year at the AGM but unfortunately could not attend due to him competing and winning the above competition. Think we will let him off for this!
Below is a fitting quote from Cameron and gives an insight into the wonderful young man that he is: “It would be very easy for me to take all the support I have been given for granted. Every athlete loves to be congratulated when they are winning. But it has been the messages of support from family, friends, sponsors and strangers that have kept me going through some dark days. When enough people believe you can do the impossible, you start to believe you can do the impossible.”
Cameron still has a few junior and senior indoor events to compete for the remainder of the year and we all wish him good luck in these.
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