Gran says: ‘Well done, Scott – but mind your phone bill!’

The 92 year-old resident of a Hanover (Scotland) Housing Association development in Edinburgh has spoken of her delight at her grandson winning a Paralympic silver medal when he visited her at her home.

Edinburgh born Scott Quin won silver in the S14 100m Breaststroke and visited his grandma, May Patton, at her flat in Juniper Green on Monday. May has lived in Hanover’s St Margaret’s Court for almost 36 years, having previously worked as a sheltered housing manager at the development, retiring in 1991.

Scott was given only a three per cent chance of survival when he was born with Crouzon syndrome and underwent major reconstructive surgery as a baby to break almost every bone in his face; as a result he has learning difficulties and tunnel vision.

May said that watching the nail-bitingly close race from her living room in Edinburgh, in which Scott missed out on gold by just three-hundredths of a second, was “superb” and that she “erupted with joy” when he took silver.

After the race, Scott called his Grandma from Rio to tell her of his win and May joked to “mind your time for the phone bill!”

May has been with Scott every step of the way since he started swimming at the age of seven and has attended as many of his swim meets as possible over the years, seeing him win silver in the SB14 100m Breaststroke at the IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow last year. She still goes every Wednesday with her daughter, Scott’s mother Eileen, to collect him from his strength and conditioning training at Heriot Watt University.

May said: “I know all the hard work that he has put in and the countless 4am starts for his morning training sessions. Seeing him beam with happiness and standing on the podium in Rio is something I will never forget!”

Scott trains up to nine times a week at the Commonwealth pool. He said his time at the Rio Paralympics was an “incredible experience”, adding that he and his fellow team GB athletes would alternate wearing their blue GB tracksuit one day and their white the next.

Tammy Easton, Development Manager at St Margaret’s Court, said: “We are all so immensely proud of Scott. All of the development was egging him on and we can’t quite believe we’ve had a Paralympian visit us here!”