Adam Layer accompanies Phil Packer on Mile 4. Photo: Robert Pascall

Phil had come up with the amazing concept of “26″; 26 Miles for 26 Charities in 26 Hours, and the Douglas Bader Foundation was honoured and delighted to have been nominated as one of his 26 charities. The DBF representative, 18 year old Adam Layer, walked Mile 4 with Major Packer and then joined the other 25 charity representatives to accompany him over the Finish Line. Congratulations to Adam and thanks to him for his ongoing support of the Douglas Bader Foundation. We couldn’t have wished for a better nominee and were proud have him as the charity’s representative.

Major Packer used his time with each charity nominee to learn more about them and their individual situations so that he could gather information to help with his hugely ambitious next project; the creation of a multi-million pound British Centre of Excellence. Phil’s aspiration is to provide a residential retreat for disadvantaged young people where he hopes they will be able to gain inspiration and hope for the future. You can learn more about this from Phil’s Website by clicking on this link.

We will be publishing more on Phil’s amazing achievement over the next couple of days and hope to have photographs coming in soon but, for now, we just wanted to congratulate him and to thank him for supporting the Douglas Bader Foundation in true Bader spirit.

Adam Layer and Phil Packer having completed Mile 4. Photo: Robert Pascall

Adam Layer, the Douglas Bader Representative who walked MILE 4 with Major Packer sent this comment:

“I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend in London for the Virgin Money London Marathon and, in particular, representing The Douglas Bader Foundation and walking mile 4 with Phil Packer it was a fantastic experience that I will never forget and I’d like to thank everyone who made it possible and supported us for that mile. Walking for that mile, Phil’s focus was to find out as much as possible about me and also about the Foundation which was brilliant and along with the comments and cheers of encouragement received from the spectators, photographers and reporters the whole adventure was just so memorable

For the last 365 yards of the Marathon, all 26 support walkers (one from each of the charities that Phil had chosen to support) joined Phil, which was a wonderful chance to meet up with other young people who had met their own personal challenges. Following the 0.2 miles and a flurry of press, I was presented a certificate and t-shirt by Richard Branson’s daughter who had completed the marathon as part of a caterpillar the day before.

I hope that by parading the Douglas Bader Foundation logo through Woolwich and also down the Mall, I and my small army of supporters, have raised the profile of a small but purposeful and very focussed charity.

Where to go from here? Well I’d like to think I can continue to support the DBF and hope to get involved in some of the activities, particularly the flying days and the latest Bader Braves activity weekend.”

The Douglas Bader Foundation was enormously proud to have you represent us, Adam, and look forward to working with you in the future. We are very grateful for your ongoing support.

WELL DONE, PHIL AND ADAM, AND THANK YOU. AN AMAZING ACHIEVEMENT!

You can click HERE to see a Sky News interview with Phil Packer during his DBF Mile 4 with Adam Layer.

We will bring more News Items and photographs as they come in so keep watching this space.

John Tartaglio on his way to completing the New York Marathon

On Sunday, November 1st, after starting at 6 AM (just before the sun rose over the Verazanno Bridge), twenty-two-year-old John Tartaglio became the first complete double leg amputee to finish a marathon. John completed the 26.2 miles in 15 hours and 59 minutes, running on a custom designed carbon fiber running prosthesis built by A Step Ahead Prosthetics. John started hours before the elite runners and thousands of others and finished at Tavern on the Green in Central Park just before 10 pm while the other 42,000 runners had finished and were home resting their sore muscles. John was supported during the long day through the streets of New York by his parents, his coach Dave Balsley, P.T. and Amy Palmiero-Winters, director of Team A Step Ahead.

http://site.mawebcenters.com/astepaheadllc/newsletter_november_2009.html

(Thanks to Steve McNeice for sending us this article)

Nottinghamshire athlete Richard Whitehead is the Disabled Sportsperson of the Year after a record breaking 2009.

Whitehead, who is a double leg amputee, has smashed world bests for the marathon and half-marathon.

He set a new world record in the 2009 Chicago Marathon, on 11 October, with a time of two hours, 50 minutes and 38 seconds having become the first ever leg amputee to break the three-hour barrier at the Rome Marathon earlier in the year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/nottingham/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8388000/8388681.stm

Page last updated at 06:34 GMT, Friday, 4 December 2009

well done Richard ….

(Thanks to Steve McNeice for sending this article)

Please click on the link below to watch the video.

http://www.webcastr.com/videos/news/double-amputee-sets-new-marathon-record.html

What a fantastic achievement, Richard. Many congratulations!

(Thanks to Steve McNeice)

Abdi Dhuhulow can run a marathon in just over three hours – an impressive feat by most standards.

But what makes the 28-year-old’s achievement even more special is that he has only one leg.

Somali refugee, Abdi Dhuhulow, who can run a marathon in just over 3 hours

The Somali refugee had to have his other leg amputated below the knee after being shot in the civil war.

“In 1991 I was fleeing the city when I got a gunshot wound in the ankle and fell off the lorry on which I was travelling,” he said.

“The lorry ran over my foot – crushing every bone.”

Abdi needed surgery, but health care was poor in Somalia, so it was not until he came to the UK seven years later that he was able to seek treatment.

“I desperately needed an operation to adjust my broken bones,” said Abdi.

But his left leg was useless – his broken thigh bone and foot bone had not healed properly and his injured leg was now significantly shorter than the other. Walking was very difficult and painful.

“For 13 years after my injury, I struggled to walk,” he said.

On arrival in the UK he had four operations, but the damage was too great and in 2004 his limb had to be amputated at Charing Cross hospital.

Abdi considers this to be a turning point in his life.

“Before this I could not even walk without crutches, but by losing my leg I felt I got my freedom back.

“Now with one leg I can run marathons.”

Initially doctors gave Abdi a basic walking leg, which he found heavy and uncomfortable, but recently he progressed to a lighter leg designed especially for the track.

“At first using the leg was very difficult because the remaining part of my limb had not been used for so long that the muscles were weak,” he said.

Abdi started running simply as a means of building his strength, but soon his talents became clear and he joined his local running club.

Initially he told only the coach about his disability and competed against able-bodied fellow runners.

Ian Hodge of the Serpentine running club, where Abdi trains, said that by any standards he is considered good.

“Abdi would be considered by most of the general public as a pretty good runner even if he were fully able,” he said.

“His achievements as a disabled runner are very good indeed. He can match the times of many decent club runners, such as 19 minutes for a 5km, 40 minutes for a 10k, 1:30 for a half marathon and a little over three hours for a marathon.”

But Abdi explained that learning to run had not been easy.

“When my leg was amputated I was determined not to let disability define who I had become,” he said.

“I tried everything to adapt and the physiotherapist at my local hospital encouraged me into running.

“I had daily physio. It was difficult in the beginning because I used to put all my weight on one leg.

“But I was walking sooner than expected and only four months after my operation, I was attempting to run!

“I began to run around the perimeter of my local park and – after overcoming the initial stiffness and muscular pains – my style, speed and stamina improved dramatically. Eight months after my operation I was able to run a mile in seven minutes.

“And after improving the stamina I joined the running club and discovered I had a talent.

“When I started at the club I ran wearing a tracksuit so all the coaches knew I had one leg but the other runners did not know that I was an amputee.

“Before I joined I did not think I could compete with a normal athlete, but afterwards I discovered I was faster than some normal athletes.

“In 2007 I ran in the British Open Championships for people with disabilities in the hope of joining the British Paralympics in Beijing, but after winning the 5km run and 800m gold I was told I could not compete at these events because the furthest distance amputees run is 400m.”

To prove that he could do it Abdi ran the London marathon in three hours 14 minutes.

But the toll on his body was severe.

“I had to run to run on a leg that was not designed for a long distance and sustained blisters,” he said.

Dr Fergus Jepson, a consultant at Preston’s Specialist Mobility Rehabilitation Centre (SMRC) said the pain barriers that a runner like Abdi has to endure should not be underestimated.

“Those of my patients who do run have quite significant problems with their amputation stump,” he said.

“It can be a very sore and painful thing to be training for any sort of long distance, be it a 10k or a half-marathon.

“And the ability of someone to run that sort of distance with an amputation is absolutely amazing.

“When it comes to patients running with an amputation I think it is very much dependent on the drive of the individual.

“Amputee rehabilitation is all about helping patients gain back their independence and their activity levels that they had prior to their amputation.”

Abdi, who is planning to run the Three2go London Trail marathon, is now hoping to get a specialised distance-running leg, which he believes will improve his times make running more comfortable.

“I am hoping for financial sponsorship to get a running leg,” he said.

“I can not afford to buy one as I am student and a running leg costs £12,000.”

Posted by BA Haller at 9:15 AM