Yeovil dad's heroic challenge to help daughter

A PAIR of Spidermen are running the Yeovil Half Marathon to help support a little girl who has suffered seizures for seven years.

Wayne Judges of Yeovil spent last Christmas Day in turmoil when his daughter took a turn for the worse after an anoxic seizure.

Amelia, 7, has suffered for almost her entire life from seizures that cause her to lose consciousness, sometimes for several hours.

Mr Judges decided to run the half marathon to raise money for the charity Syncope Trusts and Reflex Anoxic Seizures (STARS), which has recently started supporting him and his family. He will run with his friend Simon Ross and both will compete dressed as the comic book and film hero Spiderman.

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Mr Judges said: "We have only recently stumbled across the support from STARS, which is a brilliant charity supporting parents and families whose children suffer the nightmare of anoxic seizures.

"They can be terrifying for parents and children. The child's heart and breathing stops, the child collapses and sometimes resembles a fit.

"They go deathly white or blue, and after a short time the heart starts again – although very slowly.

"Amelia was very poorly and ended up in hospital on Christmas Day. It was a very upsetting time for me and the family, but it gave me the incentive of doing something for STARS.

"The charity provides support, information, stories from other families and advice for hospital appointments plus they hold regular conferences for families to attend.

"Quite often children have lots of tests before anoxic seizures are diagnosed – so getting more people to understand about this condition will help."

Mr Ross has previously taken part in similar endurance challenges and last year cycled from Yeovil to Weymouth, and then ran back and is helping Mr Judges to train.

He said: "I just wanted to do something that could help him and his little girl so I suggested we did the half marathon. Dressing as Spiderman was actually a bit of a joke but the idea stuck really."

The Yeovil Half Marathon starts at Huish Park on Sunday, March 24.

To sponsor the pair visit www.justgiving.com/wayne-judges and for information on STARS visit www.stars.org.uk.