Quadriplegic teen football fan responds to online trolling with Paralympics football challenge

A 13-year old football fan with cerebral palsy has responded to “hurtful” comments online by raising £7,000 for charity in an inspirational Paralympics challenge.

Rhys Porter, from Uxbridge, received hundreds of nasty comments by online trolls after posting a TikTok video of himself saving a goal.

The footage showed Rhys as a goalkeeper for Feltham Bees, a disability sports club associated with Brentford FC.

The teenager was born prematurely and has quadriplegic cerebral palsy. He later also developed epilepsy years.

Awful trolls sent horrible messages saying: “Has someone shot you in the kneecaps?”

However Rhys decided to hit back and raised £7,000 for disability equality charity Scope.

“He had only recently started to accept his disability and posted a TikTok video of himself saving a goal,” Rhys’ mother, Kelly Porter told LondonWorld

“At the time he posted it he only had eight or nine followers, but by the following morning he had over 100,000 and the video had been viewed and shared over 100,000 times.”

“Me and my husband were shocked to see hundreds of nasty comments underneath the video. 

“People were writing hurtful comments such as: ‘You are disabled, you shouldn’t be doing sports.”

Kelly, 41, said the comments “infuriated” her and her husband so they decided to address the issue as a family.

Rhys has since been sent supportive messages from a number of clubs such as Arsenal and Brentford since and this has given him a “boost”.

“At first the experience disheartened him and he told me he didn’t want to play football again, but then he decided that he wanted to make himself heard,” Kelly said.

Rhys has responded to his trolls by taking part in the disability charity Scope’s, Make it Count challenge and has started making twenty saves a day alongside the Paralympics.

“He has gotten the whole family involved, including his Nan and cousins across the country and we have created a Whatsapp group called #rhysfamilychallenge,” Kelly explained.

“He’s managed to turn the experience into a positive and the support he has gained has had a positive impact on his mental health.”

He has also received lots of messages from Paralympians and disabled sports people.

“Rhys has had a few struggles over the last few years,” Kelly said.

“Wheelchair life is difficult and although he is intellectually a typical 13-year-old boy he hasn’t made a lot of friends in high school.”

Kelly is hoping that this experience will help him meet more like minded people and that Rhys will feel more supported.

The tyro completed his challenge, and raised more than £7,000.