Devon amputee to take part in GB Row Challenge

A para-rower is hoping to become the first amputee to circumnavigate the coast of Great Britain.

Sophie Harris, from Modbury, Devon, is in a team set to tackle the 2,000-mile GB Row Challenge, which begins on Sunday in London.

She had her left leg amputated, below the knee, five years ago and wants to be a role model for her daughter.

"I'd like my daughter to know that it's ok to be different and to stand out from a crowd," she said.

Ms Harris, who works as a sports injury rehabilitation therapist, was born three months premature with club-foot.

Originally from Torbay, she received many different medical interventions as a child.

In 2010, arthritis was found to have set in alongside the start of complex regional pain syndrome, which causes persistent and debilitating pain.

Ms Harris took the decision, with her orthopaedic team at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, to have an amputation in February 2017.

She actually started rowing one month before that and within 12 months of her amputation she joined the GB Para-Rowing Development Programme.

She will tackle the GB Row Challenge as part of the Sealegs team.

Each member of the five-person crew will take it in turns to row continuously around the coast of Great Britian.

Ms Harris said she took on the challenge to show that "anyone can if you set your mind to it".

She added: "I told myself when I was 32 that my life had started over, and I'm certainly going to live it as best I can, while I can, because no day is the same."

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