A wheel high-flyer
HOW ACTOR EKOW OTOO WENT FROM A TEENAGER FACING SERIOUS CHALLENGES TO A LEAD ROLE IN THE NATIONAL LOTTERY’S STUNNING NEW TV AD…
Imagine being a 6ft 1in, 21year-old man and finding two pizzas too heavy to carry, but not knowing why.
morning and my legs wouldn’t follow. After a nap they were fine again, but next time I played basketball I couldn’t run – my knees would buckle and I couldn’t get any speed.”
A GP put the issue down to Ekow shooting up six inches in just one year. “They just thought I’d grown too quickly and my muscles were catching up.”
MS is an inflammatory disease in ‘Wow, there’s a name for it.’
“It was such a relief to have a definitive diagnosis. I knew it wasn’t all in my head.”
When he was first given his wheelchair, Ekow was, “overcome with peace”: “I thought it was going to be a massive struggle, but I sat in the chair and pushed for the first time, and it was like all the stress melted away.
“It turns out I’m really good at it. I can travel faster than I used to, without worrying I’ll fall over, look strange or have to stop.”
Since his diagnosis, Ekow has relied heavily on the National Lottery-supported MS Society which proved a source of information and help when he needed it. He has also benefited from sports including wheelchair racing – mentored by Paralympian Vanessa Wallace – and adapted rowing with another National Lottery-supported organisation, British Rowing. It’s good causes like these that benefit from the £30 million you raise every week* by playing The National Lottery.
“Getting back into sport was the first step in finding my confidence as a wheelchair user. I just loved it – I took part in a development programme with British Rowing for a year and, in 2016, won a pararowing gold in the British Championships.”
Ekow has even excelled at acting, and was recently picked to play the lead role in a stunning new National Lottery TV advert, which sees him performing dramatic stunts in his wheelchair.
Thanks to some clever CGI, viewers watch as he is transported from a street corner into the middle of a Viking invasion, before tearing through a museum and then taking off above the city skyline.
At one point Ekow is even flung into the air as he travels through a skate park.
All the situations in the advert show the kind of fantastic projects those who play The National
Lottery are helping to fund – from community sports to keeping our beaches clean and safe, bringing history to life in museums and helping people explore the great outdoors.
Sid has been attending his art sessions for more than three years, and they are very therapeutic, calming him down and making him happy.
Perhaps the most moving picture for everyone involved was one that Sid dedicated to his mum. He used his paintbrush to inscribe the words “Siddharth love Mummy” over and over again.
“It was the first time he’d ever conveyed that message to me,” says Susmitha. “I never thought he understood such an abstract emotion until the day he did his painting.
“It’s one of the best things that happens in Sid’s life. I’m so grateful for the support I get from Project
Art Works, the carers who support my trips – driving there and back takes three hours – and the National Lottery players who make it all possible.”