Rowing effort to help friend
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An army veteran is poised to take on a major charity challenge in aid of a friend who suffered life-changing injuries.
Darren Munro (42) will row 71 miles, equivalent to the length of one lap of each of the world’s Formula 1 tracks in the 2022 race calendar.
Mr Munro served with the army for 23 years, attaining the rank of Warrant officer class 2 before returning to civvy street two years ago and moving home to Nairn and he works as a trainer and operations supervisor at a food distribution company in Inverness.
His effort is aimed at helping Tom Spina (47), a man he and his family formed a strong bond with during a holiday in Cyprus last April.
It was Mr Spina’s son Gabriel and Mr Munro’s children Archie and Faye who hit it off first before the adults got talking – and it was Formula 1 which cemented the friendship, with Mr Spina an engineer for the Mercedes F1 team and Mr Munro and his wife major fans of the high-octane sport.
It was only a few days into the holiday, however, when tragedy struck 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.
His sister-in-law, Holly Lomas, said that throughout this period “there were many times we did not think we would ever see Tom again”.
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, including Mr Munro’s rowing 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 is currently training three days a week, averaging 20 miles a day on the rowing machine and undertaking regular weight training in between.
He is shaping up for the challenge, which is scheduled for April 7 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 or you can reach out if you would like to organise a fundraiser for it yourself.
Mr Munro said: “I know times are tough right now so not everyone can donate but even just liking or sharing our posts and spreading the word is more than enough support.”
Regarding Mr Munro’s challenge, Ms Lomas said: “I can’t believe that this time last year he didn’t even know my sister and brother-in-law and yet he is prepared to take on this incredible – and sometimes I think insane – challenge to help us fundraise for Tom. What he’s doing is simply amazing and the world needs more Darrens.”
