Met an amazing lady.....

When I was Googling the London Marathon a while ago, I came across this site. Claire Lomas is a former 4* eventer who was paralysed in a fall a few years ago and can only walk with the aid of a robotic machine. Her story came up in my search because she is walking the London Marathon to raise money for Spinal Research.

As we were still in London on Monday after the marathon, we got in touch with Claire and asked if she'd like some company for a bit of her marathon, and she said she would. So on a wet and cold morning, we all headed back into town to find her, and  I'm glad we went. Claire is a real inspiration, she always seems to be positive and smiling. We walked from mile 2 to mile 3 of the marathon in Charlton. It was so wet and involved hills which are really tiring for her so we ended up resting under a bus shelter......

You can really see from this pic how hard it is for her to walk in the suit

She can't feel anything so even knowing when her feet are going to hit the ground is difficult.......

The SNO was very good and didn't whinge (much) and she made friends with Claire's daughter Maisie when we stopped and had lunch with everyone in a café (you can see the "robot" in the background of the pic)

We were really impressed with Claire's courage and determination and will be following her progress round the marathon course. You can sponsor her here, we have........