I didn't think I'd walk again after waiting two hours for an ambulance, but something extraordinary happened
Teacher Dewi Jones, who had to learn to walk again after an accident, is running the London Marathon
(Image: Dewi Jones )
A teacher who had to learn to walk again after an accident at home is running this weekend's London Marathon. Dewi Jones from Cardiff fell 15 feet from a ladder while painting the front of his house in Cardiff. He fractured the ball of his femur, smashed up his wrist and it was a slow and painful recovery with "many dark times".
He said: ' I was painting the outside of my house in Cardiff with a friend and was on a ladder at the first floor window - the ladder was on the deck and slipped and I came down 15 feet. I should have wedged the ladder in place.
"I landed on my right foot and you could see the bone on my right shin. I broke the ball on the end of my femur - so I broke my hip. It was awful. I was trying to get an ambulance for two and a half hours. I was just lying on the deck." For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
Article continues below
Dewi has always been a runner and wanted to get back to it as soon as he could after his accident in 2017
Dewi smashed his left wrist in the fall too and was in a considerable amount of pain while his friend Mike Flemming, who was painting with him, called for an ambulance to take him to the University Hospital of Wales.
Eight years after his accident and at the age of 57, Dewi is aiming to complete the London Marathon in under four hours.
"I had a series of operations and was really worried I would never walk again because I could not put any weight on it at first. These things take such a long time and I had a lot of dark times - you don't know what will happen."
Dewi, who is head of the secondary computing and design technology faculty at Abertillery, 3-16 Learning Community, had two major surgeries to repair his hip and wrist.
He was then "back and fro" for more surgeries and visits to the fracture clinic and physiotherapists and couldn't even begin to try to walk again for six weeks.
"I had to learn to walk again and was back and forth to the hospital after surgery. It was one step at a time"
"I am good now but there will always be a weakness there. I had to sit and wait for it to heal before I could put pressure on it again and that took six weeks.
'It was a pretty nasty recovery. I had to go through the whole process of learning to walk again and it was slow. I was on crutches for a long time.
"I have always run and when I was able to start running again, I must have looked comical because I still had a bad limp. But I kept going and gradually built my strength again.
'My limp improved the more I ran and in 2019 I joined a team of four runners to tackle the Classic Quarter in Cornwall, a 44-mile endurance run along the South West Coast Path from the Lizard to Lands End."
The Brighton Marathon followed a few months later and now Dewi is heading to the London Marathon.
"I've been within four seconds of four hours previously so I'm feeling confident of hitting my target. I will just be making sure I keep away from ladders now."
Dewi , who has decided to get decorators in the next time his house needs paining, has has already raised more than £2,000 for Barnardo's Cymru and hopes to raise more on Saturday.
He said: " I see first hand the importance of giving every child the opportunity to succeed, no matter their background. I am running the London Marathon to raise money for Barnardo's because they work tirelessly to support vulnerable children who face challenges like poverty, neglect, and mental health issues.
Article continues below
Contrbutions to Dewi's fundraising for Barnardo's can be made here
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
Monica Seles reveals battle with chronic neuromuscular disease
Monica Seles first noticed the symptoms of myasthenia gravis — a neuromuscular autoimmune disease she discussed during a recent interview with The Associated Press — while she was swinging a racket the way she'd done so many times during, and after, a career that included nine grand slam titles and a place in the International Tennis Hall of Fame. 'I would be playing with some kids or family members, and I would miss a ball. I was like, 'Yeah, I see two balls.' These are obviously symptoms that you can't ignore,' Seles said. 'And, for me, this is when this journey started. And it took me quite some time to really absorb it, speak openly about it, because it's a difficult one. It affects my day-to-day life quite a lot.' The 51-year-old Seles, who won her first major trophy at age 16 at the 1990 French Open and played her last match in 2003, said she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis three years ago and is speaking publicly about it for the first time ahead of the US Open, which starts on 24 August, to raise awareness about what is known as MG. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke calls it 'a chronic neuromuscular disease that causes weakness in the voluntary muscles' and 'most commonly impacts young adult women (under 40) and older men (over 60) but ... can occur at any age, including childhood.' Seles said she'd never heard of the condition until seeing a doctor and being referred to a neurologist after noticing symptoms such as double vision and weakness in her arms — 'just blowing my hair out ... became very difficult,' she said — and legs. 'When I got diagnosed, I was like, 'What?!'' said Seles, who is partnering with argenx, an immunology company headquartered in the Netherlands, to promote their Go for Greater campaign. 'So this is where — I can't emphasize enough — I wish I had somebody like me speak up about it.' It's been three decades since Seles returned to competition at the 1995 US Open, making it to the final, more than two years after she was attacked by a man with a knife at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany. 'The way they welcomed me ... after my stabbing, I will never forget,' Seles said about the fans in New York. 'Those are the moments that stay with you.' She talks about learning to live a 'new normal' nowadays and characterized her health as another in a series of life steps that required adapting. 'I had to, in tennis terms, I guess, reset — hard reset — a few times. I call my first hard reset when I came to the US as a young 13-year-old (from Yugoslavia). Didn't speak the language; left my family. It's a very tough time. Then, obviously, becoming a great player, it's a reset, too, because the fame, money, the attention, changes (everything), and it's hard as a 16-year-old to deal with all that. Then obviously my stabbing — I had to do a huge reset," Seles said. 'And then, really, being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis: another reset. But one thing, as I tell kids that I mentor: 'You've got to always adjust. That ball is bouncing, and you've just got to adjust,'' she added. "And that's what I'm doing now.'
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
Seles reveals myasthenia gravis diagnosis
Nine-time Grand Slam champion Monica Seles has revealed she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis - a neuromuscular autoimmune disease - three years 51-year-old has chosen to go public with the rare long-term condition, which causes muscle weakness, to raise awareness before this month's US first noticed symptoms of the condition, which can affect most parts of the body - including the muscles that control the eyes, around five years ago."I would be playing [tennis] with some kids or family members, and I would miss a ball," former world number one Seles told The Associated Press."I was like, 'Yeah, I see two balls.' These are obviously symptoms that you can't ignore."It took me quite some time to really absorb it, speak openly about it, because it's a difficult one. It affects my day-to-day life quite a lot."Seles decided to reveal her condition in the hope of using her platform to educate people about the disease, for which there is currently no American won eight major titles by the age of 19, after capturing her first aged 16 at the 1990 French she won just one more after she was stabbed with a knife by a fan during a match in Hamburg in 1993 and took time away from the sport to played her last match in 2003 having won 53 tournaments and spent 178 weeks at number one.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Telegraph
Baby FGM death in the Gambia ‘should shame us all'
A one month old child has died after being subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM), reigniting anger and concern about the practice across the region. The infant reportedly died from severe bleeding after undergoing FGM in the West African country of The Gambia. Nimco Ali, a former Home Office advisor on violence against women and the CEO of the Five Foundation, a grassroots organisation tackling FGM, said the baby's death 'should shame us all'. 'She deserved so much more from us, and from an international community that boasts of caring for women and girls,' she told The Telegraph. FGM involves the deliberate cutting or removal of external female genitalia in the name of preserving so-called 'purity' and 'virginity'. Two women have been arrested for their alleged involvement, local police said. 'This is violence, pure and simple' The death of such a young girl has sparked widespread outrage in the tiny West African country, which officially banned FGM in 2015. Women In Leadership and Liberation, an organisation which works to protect the rights of women and girls in The Gambia, said: 'Culture is no excuse, tradition is no shield, this is violence, pure and simple.' Despite the ban, The Gambia has some of the world's highest rates of FGM, with at least 73 per cent of women and girls undergoing the procedure, most of them before the age of six, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Experts say there has been an increase in young infants being subjected to FGM as parents attempt to evade prosecution. Last year, a bill seeking to repeal The Gambia's 2015 FGM ban, introduced by MP Almameh Gibba and supported by some religious leaders, passed its second reading but was ultimately rejected in parliament after intense lobbying from human rights campaigners. Mr Gibba had argued the ban violated citizens' rights to 'practice their culture and religion' in the majority Muslim country. Ms Ali, who is herself a survivor of FGM, said the child's death indicates not enough has been done to enforce the ban, however. 'Just last year, we stood with women in The Gambia to defend the ban on FGM, yet pro-FGM groups, flush with money and organisation, are still winning,' she said. It comes as the UK government has significantly reduced foreign aid spending on programmes related to sexual and reproductive health and rights, including initiatives aimed at ending FGM, as part of a wider cut to the overseas aid budget. The allocation was reduced from 0.5 to 0.3 per cent of gross national income in February. Spending on education, gender, and equality programmes in developing countries has been hit hardest – down 42 per cent from £490 million in 2024/25 to £284 million in 2025/26. 'In 2025, we are still forced to beg for adequate funding for grassroots organisations fighting on the frontline,' said Ms Ali. 'Without serious global backing, more girls will die.'
