Eric Pearce (1936–1997) was an English Paralympic athlete, who represented Great Britain at the

1984 Summer Paralympics The 1984 International Games for the Disabled, canonically the 1984 Summer Paralympics were the seventh Paralympic Games to be held. There were two separate competitions: one in Stoke Mandeville, England, United Kingdom for wheelchair athletes ...

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Biography

Pearce was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

. After leaving school, he went to work at Gedling Colliery before joining the RAF. Eric spent 12 years in the RAF during which he was stationed in

Cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

and the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

. After leaving the RAF he returned to work at Gedling Colliery. During this time, he was involved in an accident whereby a roof collapsed on him, injuring his back and leaving him hospitalised for several months. He was unable to work again because he had trouble walking and was forced to use a wheelchair. After the incident, he began helping disabled children with sports. He also started to train himself to have something to focus on. Eventually, he was offered a place on the team to represent Great Britain at the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Soon after, he suffered a mild heart attack whilst on holiday in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, ending his sporting career. Pearce died on 31 March 1997 from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

. He was 61 years old.

References

1936 births 1997 deaths Royal Air Force airmen 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel Military personnel from Nottingham Sportspeople from Nottingham Paralympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) British male discus throwers British male javelin throwers British male shot putters Royal Air Force personnel Deaths from pancreatic cancer Paralympic discus throwers Paralympic javelin throwers Paralympic shot putters Wheelchair discus throwers Wheelchair javelin throwers Wheelchair shot putters {{UK-Paralympic-medalist-stub