Family and friends to hold fundraising event for Matlock dad in urgent need of medical treatment

Father of three Lance Tremayne, 45, has been left incapacitated after the year of lockdowns disrupted his recovery from life-changing surgery to correct a birth defect affecting his lower body.

The event at Smedley Street East venue Designate on Saturday, July 10, is open to the whole community will feature food, drink, games prize giveaways and a magician from noon until 5pm.

Wife Victoria Tremayne, 41, is hoping to raise around £12,000 to pay for Lance to undergo an intensive rehabilitation programme which could restore function in his lower body, and tens of thousands more for pioneering mobility aids to help him back on his feet.

She said: “Put simply, I want my husband back. My children need their daddy and I refuse to watch him disappear before my eyes. If I don’t help him, no one will. He’s so strong and so brave but everyone has their limits.”

Keen sportsman Lance first became ill three years ago, when he suddenly lost the use of his legs was hospitalised during a family holiday in Portsmouth. Doctors eventually discovered a birth defect in the main vein connecting his heart and lower body, causing blood clots from his torso downwards.

Victoria said: “The doctors told me that they have never seen clotting to this extent in anyone in the UK in their medical experience.”

Lane underwent high-risk revolutionary surgery to correct the root cause in 2019, but the clots had already caused permanent damage, leaving him in crippling pain and reliant on walking aids or a wheelchair to get around.

Lance also required regular physiotherapy and exercise, but all that was interrupted when the pandemic struck.

Victoria said: “Lance was working from home, performing his role on the Covid response hub for the local council. Before we realised the problem, it was too late.

“Months of him diligently sat at our dining table making calls to vulnerable people, no physio services, no gym, no hydrotherapy nor swimming facilities, meant that his hard won physical health was more fragile than we realised.”

Chronic muscle wastage in Lance’s legs, neurological damage and the medication he depends on have left him frequently bedbound and in distress.

Earlier this year he began having fits, and is now awaiting the results of medical tests to explain their cause. With Lance now unable to care for his children alone, Victoria has had to take time off from her job at Derbyshire Police.

She said: “Every day is a worry and I quite often feel that I don’t want to leave Lance’s side. You can imagine how this affects our children and how worrying it must be for them.

“Our physio and GP have made referrals for residential rehabilitation. However, both they and Lance’s consultant say these are unlikely to be successful due to the demand on services and also due to his condition being so unusual.”

She added: “If we can just get him to the stage where he can support his own weight again; even with crutches, it will mean he is well under way to gaining lower body control.”

For more details and donations, go to https://bit.ly/2UhvrvK.

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