Join Dr Sarah Whitehead's marathon journey to support disability awareness and Zimele

Zimele non-profit co-leader, Dr Sarah Whitehead, is preparing to take on the Cape Town Marathon in October to raise funds for her organisation.

The Zimele non-profit organisation in Pinelands was established in 2020 by Dr Whitehead and Jayson Chin, and they provide prosthetic rehabilitation to adult amputees from disadvantaged backgrounds. (“Zimele helps us see ability within disability,” Southern Suburbs Tatler, March 2024)

Dr Whitehead, from Wynberg, said she, along with a few friends, is taking part in this marathon to raise much-needed funds for Zimele. “All the money raised will go towards ensuring that Zimele can continue to provide comprehensive prosthetic rehabilitation to adult amputees from disadvantaged backgrounds,” she said.

She said her team would also like to raise awareness and understanding about disability. “We want to show society that despite the presence of a disability, there’s still plenty of ability in a person with a disability, it just takes a bit of support and encouragement from a team,” she said.

Dr Whitehead said she has focused on clinical physical rehabilitation medicine for the past six years. She is a person with a disability who has a Developmental Venous Anomaly in her brainstem. “Simply put, I have one big vein where there should be many smaller veins. This vein has a tight stenosis in it, which is causing a buildup in the vein, leading to pressure being put on surrounding structures,” she said.

She said her diagnosis results in symptoms such as mobility impairment and subsequent physical disability.

Dr Whitehead will be taking part in this marathon with a World Made 3 wheelchair with a hand cycle/tricycle attachment, where she will hand pedal with assistance from her friends, who will take turns pushing her. “I have never done a running race before! I realise it’s a bit crazy to do a full marathon as your first ever race,” she said. She added, “If I am going to do this running race in a wheelchair, then I’m going to do it properly and go big!” she said. 

Dr Whitehead said she does five biokinetics sessions a week, which help build her upper strength, and it helps with practicing her arm peddling, which she would do for the race. She will be joined by one Zimele colleague as well as 15 friends who will be wearing the yellow Zimele t-shirts in the race.

She is encouraging anyone who has already entered the Cape Town Marathon to join their team and wear their organisation's t-shirt in this prestigious marathon.

If anyone would like to find out more about how they can join Zimile's Cape Town Marathon team or would like to donate funds, you can call or WhatsApp Dr Whitehead at 082 584 2891 or email sarah@zimelenpc.org.za 

Currently, the organisation has set up a Givengain page where the goal is to reach R100 000. If anyone would like to support Zimele, you can visit www.givengain.com/campaign/disabilityawareness