Sally Orange is a physiotherapist and dedicated mental health campaigner.
Having hidden her own battles with severe depression and chronic anxiety for over 20 years, she now speaks openly in person and through social media of her challenges, in an attempt to remove associated stigma.
She also encourages others to manage their own mental well being through physical activity and is the only person on the planet to complete a marathon on every continent in fancy dress (as different pieces of fruit!) , with the specific purpose of breaking the stigma.
By taking on physical challenges, dressed as fruit, she never fails to make people smile. More seriously however, she is often asked why she is dressed in the colourful costumes. When she tells of her dedication to break the stigma associated with mental illness, people often open up and talk about their own struggles or how they know someone who has or is currently having difficulties with their mental health.
It subtly starts a conversation, while also proving you don’t have to be the fastest or the fittest to gain a sense of achievement from physical activity.
From running a marathon in a pod of the London eye, symbolising the ups and downs the pandemic had on the Nations mental health to another underground deep in a mine, which she named ‘beneath the surface’, as you never know what is going on in someone else’s mind, Sally always seeks to give purpose to her challenges for the benefit of others.