Aaron Phipps

About

This past year this gritty British wheelchair rugby player and gold medal-winning paralympian was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to wheelchair rugby. Even more impressive, back in 2016 he also became became the first disabled British person to scale Mount Kilimanjaro. He has 2,000 followers on Instagram and 5,000 on Twitter.

Before Fame

He was already a name in his sport but his fame went viral after summitting Mt. Kilimanjaro. Incredibly, Phipps didn't summit the mountain in his wheelchair but on his hands and knees. As he told the media coming down:  "I ended up crawling on my hands and knees 10 kilometres a day for four days to get to the summit. At the top, I was just relieved it was over and sending WhatsApps home. It's crazy on the top of a mountain, you get a really good phone signal."

Trivia

Phipps had the lower parts of both legs and some of his fingers removed following a diagnosis of meningococcal septicaemia at 15. His trip to Kilimanjaro was to raise money for the Meningitis Research Foundation.

Family Life

Phipps is married and has two daughters.

Associated With

Other 2022 MBE honorees include filmmakerJohn Boorman and tennis player Emma Raducanu