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Former rugby union player Matt Hampson says he is proud of how he has used the life-changing injury that ended his sporting aspirations to "shake things up for the disability world".

Hampson was an up-and-coming 20-year-old prop at the Leicester Tigers when he was left paralysed from the neck down after a scrum collapsed in a training session with the England Under-21 squad in 2005.

Within six years, he set up a foundation in his name with the aim of helping young people injured playing sport.

As he celebrates his 40th birthday today, he has reflected on what the Matt Hampson Foundation has achieved with its care over the years and the aspirations he and his colleagues have for the future.

"I reflect on the foundation and on myself as a person," he told ���˿��� East Midlands Today.

"I reflect on how far the foundation has come, what we have achieved as a great team, and how before it was a why me, why me situation, but now I see this place, and I think, ‘Yeah, it did happen for a reason’, and that was to create this wonderful foundation.

"I always say I'm the biggest beneficiary of this foundation."

Hampson's foundation has helped hundreds of people over the years, with its "Get Busy Living Centre" in the Leicestershire market town of Melton Mowbray providing access to expert physiotherapists, specialist personal trainers, wellbeing support, and other tailored healthy living advice.

The centre now also provides accommodation, and demand for access is high with a four-month waiting lift.

"There is always more we can do, more people we can support, and I think we are at the forefront and leading by example as a foundation," Hampson said.

"I feel we are shaking things up for the disabled world, empowering and giving our beneficiaries the tools to go and achieve amazing things."

"I’m proud of where we have come from and what we have achieved in a relatively short period of time. It's grown over the years, and we support people in a very unique way."

People that the foundation has supported include a number of Paralympic athletes, and among them are Nick Cummins and Jamie Stead, who were both part of ParalympicsGB's gold medal-winning wheelchair rugby side at the Tokyo games in 2021.

"Some people want to go to the Paralympics to get gold, and that's fantastic," Hampson said of the ambitions of the people that have sought the foundation's support.

"And there are other people who just want to be able to go to the shops or to pick up their loved ones from school, to live a fairly normal life again, and to just feel happy - and for us, that is just as big of an achievement."