Upwards and onwards . . . (From The Northern Echo)

Upwards and onwards for paralympic hopeful Lyndon Longhorne

10:32am Wednesday 25th November 2009 in Limbs For Lyndon By Rachel Wearmouth

THIS is the joyful moment paralympic hopeful Lyndon Longhorne took a deep breath and began to walk tall.

Lyndon, who will be 14 on Saturday, had both legs and an arm amputated after he contracted a deadly strain of meningitis aged nine months.

So emotions were running high for mother Tammy Shevels and stepfather Kenny yesterday as they watched the teenager from Crook, County Durham, grit his teeth with determination and take his first steps on new prosthetic legs.

Specialists from the worldrenowned clinic, Dorset Orthopaedic, in Hampshire, say the schoolboy faces a long journey before he becomes truly independent, but his family believe the youngster is more than up for the challenge.

Northern Echo readers rallied round to raise £10,000 to buy the limbs after the newspaper backed Durham County Council chairman Brian Myers’ Limbs For Lyndon campaign.

The limbs will help him realise his long-held ambition of competing for his country at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Lyndon looks set to qualify for a national talent programme after taking home a number of gold medals at various disability swimming events since he began taking the sport seriously a year ago.

Yesterday, after travelling to the clinic from his home, he quipped he could stretch like a footballer and looked to the future with optimism as he imagined his friends’ shock at his new found height.

Limbs provided by the National Health Service were uncomfortable and were hampering his progress at a crucial stage in his development.

But after seeing his new ones, his delighted mother said yesterday: “This is quite a big day for Lyndon. He is quite excited and this is a big milestone in his life.

“I think it will be make him feel like everybody else, although he never, ever sees himself as any different. He will be tall and he will have more confidence in going out and doing things.

“He will be able to use them at home and at school and, hopefully, he will be able to progress and have the support from the physiotherapist at home and get him up and walking without any aids. We will keep encouraging him and pushing him along.

“We have two years now to get him up and walking and to build his confidence. Once we have conquered that, it will be time to get him ready for driving lessons.”

Fundraisers are working towards a new target of £25,000 for a bionic arm.

Mark Ledger, Lyndon’s prosthetist, has been amazed at his positive attitude.

He said: “We are very pleased with his progress so far. The next step is for the physiotherapy to kick in.

“Essentially, it will be strengthening some of his muscles and I think his pelvis needs working on, and it will be improving his balance and trying to control some of the bad habits he has been gravitating towards.

“One of the things we really need to do is see how far we can take him in terms of his independence from aids like walking sticks. He has obviously tried walking without any help from the bars – he gave me a heart attack – but he is doing extremely well.

“His attitude is ninetenths of the solution. I provide a bit of kit and he flies with it really. Without his attitude, without his energy and his physical strength, we would be nowhere and to say I am impressed is an understatement.

“The odds have been stacked against him in the past, but he is just doing so well. It is quite exciting because if he has this starting frame of mind we can really go places.”