Don't Look Down - Interview with Fats Timbo

10 October 2023

Why did you sign up for Don’t Look Down?
Doing it for such an amazing cause – cancer affects so many people – is a big driving force. For me, personally, someone that has a disability, I didn’t know how the challenges would be adapted for me. I didn’t know if I could even do it in the first place, but all I knew is that I wanted to do it, and that’s a testament to my mindset and how I think about things and how positive I can be. So, I wanted to show – I wanted to prove that to myself and prove that to the world as well and inspire other people with disabilities.

In what ways has your life been impacted by cancer?
I’ve gone through it with my uncle, my aunties and recently, my partner’s niece. She’s only five, and she was diagnosed with cancer at two. She was born with cancer and luckily, because her mum was pushing for her to be diagnosed with something – she was sick, she didn’t understand why her two-year-old was constantly ill and in pain – because of that, it prolonged her life.

That’s what we want to do for people, we want to prolong people’s lives, we want people to be saved from cancer. Doing something as scary as this show, it doesn’t compare to someone going to chemo or undergoing an operation. They’d rather highwire walk than have cancer, you know. It puts things into perspective.

How have you found the training? Did it have to be slightly adapted for you?
I use a lighter bar, which really benefits me because I don’t have to strain my arms, plus, I work better with it. I’ve had to learn that, OK, I might not do it exactly the same way as everyone else, but because I’ve found my adapted way of doing it, I can still do it.

I’ve showed Jade [Kindar-Martin, lead trainer] how I do it [laughs]. He showed me a way and everyone else a way. I tried his technique, and I said to Jade, “It doesn’t work for me, I’m sorry.” The ‘toe and slide’ [technique], my legs don’t slide like everyone else’s, I have to go over [with my legs], but as long as I place my foot on properly and I don’t miss it, that’s the main thing.

Do you feel confident you’ll be able to complete the final challenge?
I think we all can. After the training and challenges we’ve gone through these past couple of weeks, nothing can shake us!