Milly Pickles says that joining Channel 4's Paralympics presenting team for 2024 feels like a full circle moment - revealing she trained for two years for the 100m sprint after losing her leg. Milly, 27, whose leg was amputated after she was electrocuted in 2017, said her first words to her parents after the devastating amputation were: "At least I can compete in the Paralympics." She has now put her athletics ambition to one side, but is thrilled to have landed a role as a roving TV reporter in Paris this month.
Speaking on the Daily Mirror's Invite Only podcast, she said: "I feel like it's very new to me, reporting and being live on TV is something that I've not experienced before. But, I just love the Paralympics. I actually trained for two years in the 100m sprints.
After I had my accident, when the surgeons came into the room and told me I was losing my leg, the first thing I thought and said to my parents was: 'At least I can be in the Paralympics.' "I was just so desperate to focus on something that I could do now that I couldn't do before. So I trained for two years and every day for those two years, I said to myself: 'I will be in the 2024 Paralympics.
' And I am now, just not in the way that I expected. So I think it's epic and I'm just unbelievably excited." Milly was a student at Bournemouth University in September 2022 when her life changed forever.
The circumstances around her accident remain unclear, but she remembers vividly being shocked by a current of 750 volts - which entered through her right heel, travelled through her leg and pelvis, then down her left leg and out of her big toe. She was left with 36 per cent burns - most of which were internal - and had her right leg and the big toe on her left foot amputated. Since then Milly has shared her journey on social media and become an inspiration to many.
And she says the support she has received. She went on: "After my accident, I just knew that I wanted to help people, but I didn't really know how. I kind of fell into social media because the first video I did got two million views.
And I thought: 'What on earth?' So I just kind of kept pushing it. And I felt a relief when I found the amputee community, because I didn't feel so alone. "I don't view myself as like, a leader in that community.
I just feel like I'm a part of it. So I don't feel scared to showcase who I am. I'm seven years on now, but I still have that feeling towards other people who have gone through trauma.
And it's so it's nice to know you're not alone." Milly was interviewed alongside Ed Jackson for the Daily Mirror's Invite Only podcast. To listen to the full interview go to www.
podfollow.com/inviteonly. Channel 4 's Paralympic coverage begins on 28 August on Channel 4, More4 and streaming.
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