Nairn man set to row length of world’s F1 tracks to help friend with spinal cord injury
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A mammoth rowing challenge aiming to raise vital funds for a paralysed man and his family is just hours away for one Highlander. Darren Munro (42) is set to row 71 miles in an Inverness gym on Friday – the equivalent to a lap of each of the world’s Formula 1 tracks on the 2022 calendar.
His fundraising challenge aims to help Tom Spina (47), a man he and his family formed a strong bond with during a holiday in Cyprus last April, who suffered a serious accident at the resort pool.
Mr Munro said: “I jumped in the pool, came up, wiped the water off my face and saw Tom face down and blood in the water.”
Nobody is sure of exactly what happened but Mr Munro was able to pull Mr Spina from the water, at which point he was barely conscious.
A trained paramedic who also happened to be on holiday in the resort was also able to assist and Mr Spina was rushed to hospital on the Mediterranean island.
While he survived emergency surgery, he spent several weeks afterwards in intensive care and on a ventilator.
Attempts to repatriate him to the UK hit difficulties several times – on separate occasions because he developed sepsis or there were not enough trained staff available to accompany him on the flight.
Eventually returning to the UK, to a hospital near his home in Northampton, he spent a further month in intensive care followed by another two-month wait for a bed at the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandevile.
Now, several months later, he is still at the facility though preparations are under way to get him home.
Mr Spina has a spinal cord injury in his neck which has left him with extremely limited upper body movement.
He cannot move his lower limbs at all and is currently dependent on a motorised wheelchair.
As a result his home needs significant adaptation – at high cost – and Ms Lomas fears those costs will mean creating the home for him and his family that they deserve could be outwith their reach.
In an effort to bridge the funding gap they have created an online “Get Tom Home” crowdfunding page with several events planned.
The pair initially got to know each other after their children hit it off – but their shared love of Formula 1 then cemented the friendship further. Mr Spina is an engineer for the Mercedes F1 team and Mr Munro and his wife are major fans of the high-octane sport. It is this shared love of F1 which has shaped the challenge.
“Everyone deserves to be at home with their family,” Mr Munro said of his reasons for doing his bit.
“I’ll put myself through pain, sure, but it’s nowhere near the pain they feel being apart.”
Mr Munro, who has been training ready for tomorrow's challenge will take to the rowing machine at Pure Gym in Inverness.
Patrons and supporters will be welcome to make cash donations on the day – and the more people who turn up to cheer him on, the better.
Mr Munro estimates to row the entire 71 miles will take at least 12 hours, so he will start on the day at around 6am.
More details are available at the Get Tom Home Facebook page which includes links for online donations.
