Claire Lomas

Our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Claire Lomas MBE who has died following an accident in the Kingdom of Jordan on 22nd August 2024.

On 6th May 2007 Claire Lomas became paralysed from the chest down following a horse riding accident. She fractured her neck and ribs, dislocated her back, punctured a lung and developed 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.

Formerly a Chiropractor and top level event rider, Claire was determined from the start to make the best of the situation. There were days when she struggled to find the motivation to get out of bed. She discharged herself from hospital after only 8 weeks and over time she found strength and courage to rebuild her life by finding new interests and work as well as raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for the advancement of research to develop a cure for paralysis.

Within a year of her accident she found new interests, skiing, handcycling, motorbikes and fundraising. She feels lucky to have the use of her arms and seeing so many patients in hospital unable to move at all gave her the drive to fundraise in earnest.

In 2012 Claire became headline news worldwide. She was the first, and only, paralysed person to walk the London Marathon using a pioneering robotic suit. It took 17 days and raised £210,000 for Spinal Research.