On Sunday 22^nd April Kevin Durham will undertake the iconic London Marathon in support of Aspire. He will be joining 40,000 other runners at the start line near St. John's Park, something doctors at Stanmore would have thought might never be possible the day he came into hospital with a high-level fracture in his spine (C2 break).

In 1984 Kevin injured his neck playing rugby for Harrow but had no idea as to the severity and precariousness of his condition. Unaware that he was just one wrong move away from paralysis from the neck down he was driven to Stanmore Orthopaedic Hospital not by an ambulance but by his wife in her Mini Cooper. The doctors who tended to him were awestruck to find that Kevin, who had walked into the hospital, had fractured his spine, and fractured it very high up. Kevin was remarkably lucky not to have damaged his spinal cord and, with the help of Mr Ian Bayley, made a full recovery. 11 days later he was discharged.

 

Having known someone who had incurred a similar injury playing rugby, Kevin was aware that the standard practice for fusing the spine back together is to literally bolt it back in place. For him the idea of this was unbearable so Mr Bayley prescribed a bracing neck frame for Kevin to wear for several months, until his vertebrae had knitted back together.

Poignantly the Mr Bayley who was instrumental in his recovery was similarly influential in setting up Aspire, which now stands just a few hundred metres away from where Kevin was first treated. Now, 34 years later, Kevin is attempting to raise a mammoth £4,000 for Aspire, motivated by a desire to help bring support to those who sustained similar injuries but were not so fortunate.

“After being shown around the Aspire facilities I decided that one day I’d do something to help and now hope to raise at least £4,000 for this inspirational charity.”

You can help Kevin reach his target here

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