Karate kids donate money to St Neots paralysed teen after seeing his progress in The Hunts Post

A KARATE club has given a St Neots teenager who was paralysed in a sporting accident �150 towards a new sports chair after reading about his progress in The Hunts Post.

The money raised by Karina Whittingham, who runs The Tora Seishin Academy with her husband Richard, will go towards a sports chair to enable Dean Symmons, 15, to play basketball.

Mrs Whittingham said: “I said to the children that Dean should be an inspiration to them as things can so often go wrong. Most people would feel very hard done by but his love for life is just great and you can see it’s that strength that gets him through.”

On Sunday Dean was joined by 24 walkers for a 13 mile trek from St Ives along the Guided Bus footpath to Cambridge Park and Ride.

The walk raised an additional �400 towards the new chair.

Dean’s father Andy said: “Dean managed to wheel himself the whole distance without any help. It was very humbling to see his face when he crossed the line. Everyone was very proud of Dean and his attitude towards what was a very big challenge for him as he had never wheeled that kind of distance before.”

Longsands Academy student Dean slipped a disc swinging for a softball in June, damaging his spinal cord.Dean has also thanked everyone who donated money for him to get his day chair, which he received at the end of December.

He said: “My new chair is so manoeuvrable and the brakes work which has made my life better as a whole.”