She’d been using reusable catheters and had been struggling with regular urinary tract infections (UTIs), one of which she got two days before she was due to race. “My body got very weak and, I couldn’t perform how I wanted to”, she says. “I managed to raise myself enough to finish 10th.”
It was a bitter result for Sandra, who had ambitions to rank in the top 5. True to form, though, she wasn’t deterred and finished 5th in the World Championships in Sarasota, Florida, the following year.
Around the same time, Sandra was introduced to something else she says made a big change in her life. After experimenting with other hydrophilic catheters, she found GentleCath™ with FeelClean™ Technology. “It was like, wow, I had less pain, and my problems with regular UTIs were gone.”
She also found another passion – her work supporting people at the beginning of their own self-catheterization journey. “I am so passionate now about touching and changing people’s lives. I want to help them experience the same change that I did in my life.”
"A good day for me is to walk out of a hospital or rehab center and leave people with hope and focus on what they can still do, regardless of the change they’re going through with their bodies. Seeing the smiling faces is what motivates me every day."