Glusburn couple in 1,400-mile Spanish bike epic (From Craven Herald)

Phil and Deborah Smith cycle from Glusburn to the Costa Blanca for National Kidney Foundation

2:30pm Sunday 5th February 2012 in News

A South Craven woman who received a kidney transplant 20 years ago is set to embark on a 1,400-mile “home to home” cycle ride to Spain.

Deborah Smith, 35, and her husband, Phil, 44, will be cycling from their Glusburn house on Greenway to their Spanish home in Cocentaina on the Costa Blanca to raise money for the National Kidney Foundation.

Deborah wants to raise money to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her transplant and to support a charity that helped her when she was a teenager.

Deborah was taken to hospital at the age of 14 with apparent anaemia. There she suffered a seizure and was in a coma for two days. She was then transferred to St James’s Hospital in Leeds, where she was diagnosed with kidney failure.

She was given an unsuccessful experimental treatment to try to save her kidneys, but eventually suffered another seizure and was in a coma for three days before waking up on her 15th birthday on a dialysis machine.

Deborah was on dialysis three days a week for three hours each session, for a full year before receiving a donor kidney on April 29, 1992.

Since the transplant, Deborah has enjoyed a new lease of life.

“Life is brilliant now,” she said. “I’m apparently healthier than the average person.”

The idea to cycle to Spain was born out of Phil’s “mid-life crisis”, said Deborah.

“Phil always wanted to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats, but a friend convinced him to do the ‘home to home’ cycle to Spain instead.

The journey starts on April 2 and it is expected to take 18 days, with the couple cycling an average of 50 to 85 miles per day. Deborah is not a cycling enthusiast and is expecting the ride to be a difficult. But she has been training with Phil for the past eight months.

“I’ve been slowly building up confidence, distance and speed and can now complete a 50-mile round trip with ease,” she said. “The first time I cycled so far was hard – and so were the three days after when I struggled to walk!”

To donate, visit justgiving. com/waltonandsmith.