Three-legged vet breaks a world record and raises more than £12,000 for life changing surgery for her son

Vet Lorna Brokenshire-Dyke and her husband James broke a world record on Sunday as they completed the London Marathon as a three-legged pair. The couple were running the 26.2 miles in aid of their two-year-old son Seb, who was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy Spastic Diplegia at 15 months old.

They decided to do this challenge back in October when launching “Seb's Legs”, in a bid to raise £70,000 for Seb to have life-changing Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery which will remove or reduce the spasticity in his legs so that he can move more freely. The money raised will pay for the surgery, aftercare, a prolonged course of intensive physiotherapy and any specialist equipment he might need.

Fundraising through the charity, Tree of Hope, completing the London Marathon as a three-legged pair, seemed the perfect challenge to do on behalf of Seb. They wanted to do something that would make people stop and think about how they use their own legs and how simple things like walking and running should be for all of us. But for Seb, and others with Cerebral Palsy spasticity, everything is so much harder when your legs are disabled by the tightness of spasticity. A marathon is so much harder when your legs are disabled by the legs of another.

The training was very tough with many setbacks, but both Lorna and James have battled through.  


Lorna said: "The only thing that has kept me going is the thought of Seb running one day. Every time my legs have started to hurt, or my lungs have felt like they were going to collapse, or my body has ached all over, I have pictured my boy with legs that do what he wants them to. If you've driven past me on a run and wondered why my eyes are streaming when it's really not very windy, that's why. I'm thinking of Seb.”

Not only did Lorna and James raise over £12,283, but they also got a world record completing the marathon in 4 hours 25 minutes.

You can sponsor Lorna and James at their JustGiving page: www.justgiving.com/sebslegs.

You can find out more and follow Seb’s journey on www.sebslegs.com
or via their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SebsLegs.