[1][2] Tom O'Neill-Thorne was born on 8 April 1997, with arthrogryposis multiplex,[3] a congenital condition,[4] which he describes succinctly as: "my legs didn't grow properly".

[5] By the time he was two years old, he required a wheelchair,[3] but watching the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney on television, he decided that he wanted to become an athlete.

[4] In 2013, he was part of the Spinners team at the IWBF U23 World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Adana, Turkey, where they won bronze.

Later that year he made his debut with the senior national team (the Rollers) at the 2013 Asia-Oceania Zone Championships in Bangkok, and the following year was part of the Rollers team that won gold at the 2014 Incheon World Wheelchair Basketball Championship.

[10] In 2018, he was a member of the Rollers that won the bronze medal at 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Hamburg, Germany where he averaged 14.5 points, four rebounds and three assists per game.