Tom Kelsall
DOB 19-04-2004
AGE OF DIAGNOSIS 9
Tom cherishes the words Phil Southerland repeatedly reminds him of – “there is nothing you cannot do; there is nothing beyond you”
PROFILE
Tom is a 22-year-old cyclist from Dorking, England, who has spent his entire life refusing to be defined by the challenges placed in front of him. Born with a Developmental Language Disorder and a moderate intellectual impairment, Tom was told by medical experts at the age of three that his development would plateau and stop around the age of eight. He has been proving people wrong ever since.
The youngest of three siblings alongside twin brother Archie and younger sister Isobel, Tom was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in June 2013 after his parents noticed he was drinking and urinating excessively. Due to his Developmental Language Disorder, Tom is unable to process his body’s internal signals, meaning his family play a central and ongoing role in supporting his diabetes management — though Tom himself is increasingly taking an active part in monitoring his own glucose levels.
He came to cycling after football was no longer a viable outlet, first picking up a passion for the sport at 13 during Novo Nordisk UK’s Pedal for 7 awareness ride. What started there grew into something remarkable. By 15 he had completed his first 100km, by 16 he was riding 150km alongside Team Novo Nordisk professionals, and by 19 he had completed the gruelling Mallorca 225 sportive — 225 kilometres in nine and a half hours — alongside his hero and mentor Phil Southerland.
He has completed RideLondon’s 100-mile sportive three times, won multiple medals including gold at the Special Olympics GB National Cycling Championships, and holds a Guinness World Record as the youngest male with an intellectual impairment to complete a 100-mile bike ride.
Away from cycling, Tom is a devoted Manchester City supporter, a passionate fan of Kasabian, Feeder and the Foo Fighters, and the proud carer of two cocker spaniels, Bramble and Flora, and a cat named Willow. He splits his time between his family home in Dorking and supported accommodation in Brighton, where he attends a specialist college — quietly building toward the independent future he has always been working for.
Team Novo Nordisk, Tom says, is his proudest achievement. It is also, in his own way of seeing it, family.