FOR each of the 4,000 or so people who took part in the British Heart Foundation Great North Walk, the long trek and beating sun meant it was a gruelling effort.

But for one brave walker, each step took even more resolve - for he has only just learnt to walk again after being paralysed down one side and confined to a wheelchair.

But determined Nick Wood, of Crook, County Durham, cast aside his chair for the final 20 metres of the walk's special wheels-friendly route to cross the finish line.

He suffered a stroke four years ago and is unlikely ever to regain full mobility, but, encouraged by the crowd gathered by the side of the track and his proud father, he battled through his personal challenge.

"Four years ago he suffered a brain haemorrhage and it nearly killed him," said his father, Chris Foote Wood, a councillor in Wear Valley.

Nick was in a coma and placed on a life support machine, but eventually he recovered - although had permanent paralysis down one side and very little speech.

Mr Foote Wood said: "For four years, he was unable to walk at all. He then went to Bishop Auckland General Hospital for physiotherapy and they did an excellent job and gave him some mobility.

"I try to encourage him to walk, which is why I took him on the Great North Walk, and the crowd encouraged him. He does need encouragement, but he walked about the last 20 metres and I was very proud of him."

Birthday girl's walk to thank doctors

A BRAVE girl celebrates her ninth birthday today - an occasion her parents feared they would never see when she underwent heart surgery days after being born.

Rhianne Wilson, of Liam Lane, in Heworth, Gateshead, had complicated surgery to save her life when she was just nine days old at the Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle.

She was diagnosed with a faulty heart valve shortly after she was born in 1996, and needed to have emergency work to keep it beating.

Now she is so healthy that she achieved 100 per cent attendance at her school last term and marched all eight miles of the Great North Walk in Wolsingham, County Durham, on Sunday.

Together with her father Peter, mother Angela and sister Rebecca, 12, she raised money at the event for the British Heart Foundation as a thank-you for helping to save her life.

Mr Wilson said: "During the operation they took a good vein out of her arm and re-routed it to supply the heart to make it the main aorta.

"It seemed like a lifetime. It must have been about four hours, I can't remember exactly.

"We were told that there is a lot that can go wrong still. They said there could be other problems later on, so she went for regular check-ups. But it's just gone to one check-up every two years now, so she's doing well."

Rhianne, whose idea it was to raise money for the British Heart Foundation during the Great North Walk, said: "I really enjoyed the walk, it was fun and I did not even really feel tired."