About Claire

Claire’s life turned upside down on 6th May 2007 when she became paralysed from the chest down in a horse riding accident. Claire fractured her neck, dislocated her back, fractured ribs, punctured a lung and got pneumonia. Luckily the neck fracture didn't damage the spinal cord but the dislocation to the vertebra T4 left her paralysed from the chest down.

Claire was a Chiropractor and top level event rider when this freak accident left her unable to do the things she loved. Although Claire was determined from the start to make the best out of the situation there were plenty of days she struggled to even get the motivation to get out of bed. She discharged herself from hospital after only 8 weeks, focussed on her rehab then over time she found strength and courage to rebuild her life by finding new interests.

Even in the early days post injury there were times Claire felt lucky as she still had the use of her arms. She decided to do whatever she could to help raise money for the research into spinal cord injuries. To date, she has raised over £850,000 through various challenges.

A year after her accident Claire met Dan, and they have two daughter's. She found some new sports (skiing, handcycling, motorcycling), has written two books, become a renown motivational speaker, ride motorbikes on track days after obtaining her motorcycling race licence and more recently she qualified as a pilot.

It was in 2012 when Claire became headline news worldwide. She was the first paralysed person to walk the London Marathon, she did it in a pioneering robotic suit. It took 17 days and raised a staggering £220,000.

She was then invited to light the Paralympic Cauldron in Trafalgar Square.

In 2013, Claire completed her next challenge- she handcycled 400 miles around parts of England and visiting many schools along the way to deliver inspirational talks raising another £85,000.

Claire has found numerous ways to raise money from organising evening events, collecting at racecourses, from her book, school visits, the road2recovery event series, taking on challenges in the robotic suit and online auctions.

Claire was awarded an MBE in 2017 for her stellar fundraising efforts.

Claire's fundraising total is now over £850k.

But guess what?... SHE WON'T STOP THERE!