Dr Kim Daybell, who was born with Poland Syndrome, is raising money for Spinal Research
Dr Kim Daybell(Image: ParalympicsGB)
A Yorkshire Paralympian will be taking on the London Marathon to raise money for charity.
Former Team GB Paralympian Dr Kim Daybell, 33, is raising money for the charity Spinal Research. Kim, who played table tennis and who is from Sheffield, was born with Poland Syndrome, a rare condition which meant he had no chest wall muscles on his right side and no fingers on his right hand.
He underwent surgery aged two, with a double toe transplant taking the second toe from each foot and attaching them to his right hand to give him digits.
Over the years, Kim has had a massively successful sporting and medical career, and hopes to combine the two on April 26.
He said: “Because I had the surgery at such a young age I didn’t really see my disability as a barrier. I played a lot of racquet sports as a child and found I just had a knack for table tennis. From the age of 10 I was playing for the national team and when I was 16 transferred to the Team GB Paralympic Team.”
During his career, he won nearly 50 international medals, including silver in the Commonwealth Games, silver in the European Championships, and he competed in two Paralympic games in London and Rio. At the same time, he was training to become a doctor at Leeds Medical School.
Just a year after his graduation, the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, and Kim ended his sporting career to work full time as a resident doctor at Charing Cross Hospital in London. At the tie, he was fifth in the world in his class, and preparing for his third Paralympics.
Dr Kim Daybell(Image: Kim Daybell)
He said: “I had a really great sporting career and loved every minute of it but it was the right decision to make.”
In addition, Kim will be running in memory of his friend and mentor Gorazd Vecko, who was the performance manager for British Para Table Tennis between 2007 and 2025.
Kim added: “I’ve a lot of friends through sport who have spinal cord injuries. I’ve trained, competed, laughed, and commiserated with incredible athletes whose resilience has never ceased to inspire me.
“As both an athlete and a doctor, I’ve witnessed the extraordinary journey from devastating injury to Paralympic triumph. It is a path filled with challenges and setbacks, but it always begins with one essential ingredient: high-quality medical care.
“I know the importance of the new technologies, treatments and therapies that are coming through which can and will make such a huge difference to the quality of peoples’ lives.”
According to Spinal Research, someone in the UK is paralysed with a spinal cord injury every two hours, and it can happen at any time, to anyone. The charity states it is the leading UK charity funding research around the world to develop new treatments for those who do suffer spinal cord injuries.
Suzanne Redding, the charity’s Head of Audience and Community, said: “With the first function restoring treatment in history now available and more breakthrough therapies coming, what we need is the funds to get these to the 105,000-plus people living every day in the UK with a devastating spinal cord injury.
“So, we are incredibly grateful to Kim for joining this year’s London Marathon #TeamSpinal. Every single pound takes us a step closer to our goal of curing paralysis.”
If you want to donate to Kim, you can do so here.
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