Claire Lomas (21 March 1980 – 22 August 2024) was a British campaigner, fundraiser, motivational speaker, and former

event rider Eventing (also known as three-day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where the same horse and rider combination compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

and

chiropractor Chiropractic () is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of physical disorder, mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the vertebral column, spine. It is based on sever ...

. She became a

paraplegic Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek () "half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neura ...

as a result of a riding accident in 2007. In 2012, she finished the 32nd Virgin London Marathon in 17 days using the

ReWalk ReWalk is a commercial bionic walking assistance system that uses powered leg attachments to enable paraplegics to stand upright, walk and climb stairs.

robotic suit. Her death following an accident in Jordan was announced on 30 August 2024. This was later confirmed as a microlight accident.

Background

Before 2007, Lomas worked as an

, producing and competing horses in Eye Kettleby, near

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a market town in the Borough of Melton, Melton district in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, Leicestershire, River Eye, known below Melton as the Rive ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, United Kingdom. She also worked as a chiropractor. She competed at Advanced level in

British Eventing British Eventing (BE) is the Great Britain governing body for the equestrian sport of eventing, which combines a single rider and horse pairing competing in dressage, showjumping and cross country. The organisation both regulates the sport an ...

. While competing at Osberton Horse Trials in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

in May 2007 she had an accident, colliding with a tree, which resulted in broken ribs puncturing her lungs and causing

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

; multiple

fractures Fracture is the appearance of a crack or complete separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress (mechanics), stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacemen ...

on her neck; and a

spinal cord injury A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. It is a destructive neurological and pathological state that causes major motor, sensory and autonomic dysfunctions. Symptoms of ...

causing

paralysis Paralysis (: paralyses; also known as plegia) is a loss of Motor skill, motor function in one or more Skeletal muscle, muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory d ...

from the chest down. After a speedy recovery at the Sheffield Northern General Hospital's Spinal Injuries Unit, due to the spinal cord injury on T4

thoracic vertebrae In vertebrates, thoracic vertebrae compose the middle segment of the vertebral column, between the cervical vertebrae and the lumbar vertebrae. In humans, there are twelve thoracic vertebra (anatomy), vertebrae of intermediate size between the ce ...

Lomas was left without the use of her legs and lack of general sensation in lower part of her body. Despite the injuries that left her with

paraplegia Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek () "half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neura ...

, her condition improved rapidly due to medical rehabilitation treatments and being active in sports (gym exercising, horse riding, skiing and swimming). Lomas also credited the high level of support and understanding she received from her husband Dan and becoming a mother as she gave birth to her daughter Maisie in February 2011. This progress and support stimulated Lomas not to become depressed but instead to run various campaigns and fundraising events publicly during 2008–2012 in order to acquire equipment for her rehabilitation and raise funds for research into spinal cord repair for the British charity Spinal Research, for which Lomas was an Ambassador for their Saddle Up Campaign for horse riders. After intensive and continuous rehabilitative exercising and therapy, Lomas reported she gained improvements in core strength. However, her lower body motoric abilities were still impaired and she had to use a

wheelchair A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health conditio ...

to stay mobile in everyday life.

Achievements

Lomas ran a fundraising campaign to raise £50,000 for the charity Spinal Research to find a repair for spinal cord injury. This campaign promoted as ''Claire's Walk'' focuses around her participation in the 32nd Virgin London Marathon of 22 April 2012. She finished the Marathon in 17 days using the ReWalk robotic suit that helps people with paraplegia walk standing in upright position, on 8 May. In August 2011, Lomas announced launching a semi-nude photography calendar starring renowned event riders from Britain as a method of fundraising for purchasing the £43,000 ReWalk suit. The calendar was published on 1 September 2011 and £10,000 of the total sum needed was donated by the

Matt Hampson Matthew "Hambo" Hampson (born 29 November 1984 is an English former rugby union prop who became paralysed from the neck down (C4/5 tetraplegic), after a scrummaging accident when practising with England under-21 squad in March 2005. His condi ...

Foundation. She began training on 23 January 2012. Though the organisation requires participants to finish the marathon within 24 hours, they allowed Lomas to walk 2 miles a day for 17 days accompanied by her husband. She finished the marathon after 17 days, passing the finish line on 8 May 2012 at 12:50. Donations for Spinal Research were gathered mostly online through the Just Giving UK website and reached £90,000 as she crossed the finish line, up to £143,000 five days later.

Awards and recognition

After completing the 2012 London Marathon Lomas received 14 medals from other marathon participants as symbolic recognition of her accomplishment. Her crossing the finish line at The Mall in central London was escorted by three mounted members of the Household Cavalry giving Lomas a guard of honour and she was awarded the Virgin Trophy by Holly Branson. Lomas went on to be nominated for and to win the title of Inspirational Fundraiser at the Inspiration Awards for Women in October 2012 as well as the Helen Rollason Award for Inspiration at ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' Sportswomen of the Year Awards in November 2012. She was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for charitable and voluntary services to Spinal Injury Research.ITV News. 31 December 2016. Paraplegic Fundraiser Claire Lomas awarded MBE
/ref>

Post-marathon

Lomas was given the honour of lighting the

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

Cauldron in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...

on 24 August 2012 in front of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

, Mayor of London

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

and Lord

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British sports administrator, former politician and retired track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, incl ...

, Chairman of the

London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) was the organisation responsible for overseeing the planning and development of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was jointly established by the UK Go ...

. She lit the cauldron in the robotic suit. She also started the

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

Marathon in 2012 but did not attempt the entire distance.

New challenges

Lomas took on a 400-mile cycle challenge in the UK in April and May 2013 in which she cycled from

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

to London using a handbike.

Media career

Lomas made many media appearances and presented a number of television programmes.

Personal life and death

Lomas was born on 21 March 1980 in

, England. She went to Stamford High School in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. She was married to Dan Spincer, and the couple had two daughters: Maisie and Chloe. As of 2024 they lived at Eye Kettleby in

. Lomas died following an accident in Jordan on the morning of 22 August 2024. She was 44. Her death was announced on 30 August. On 15th July 2024 the adapted microlight she was flying veered off a road after landing and crashed into a rock. She was taken to the King Hussein Medical Centre where she died on the morning of 22 August 2024.https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjw2g89j817o

References

External links

Official website

Motivational speaking website

Claire Loams Speaking Profile, Videos and Speaking Topics at Promotivate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lomas, Claire 1980 births 2024 deaths British disabled sportspeople British event riders British female equestrians Horse-related accidents and incidents Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Stamford High School, Lincolnshire People from Melton Mowbray People with paraplegia Television presenters with disabilities