An inspirational woman who suffered a severe spinal cord injury after a man fell on her in a nightclub is set to cycle the equivalent distance from London to Paris to raise money for the charity Spinal Research in the hope to find a cure for her condition.

Lorraine Mack, from De Beauvoir Road, is hoping to raise at least £2,000 on her 285 mile ride which she will complete using a Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) bike.

A decade ago Lorraine, also known as Lolly, had only been in a nightclub with her friends for 20 minutes when a 24 year-old man fell from the balcony above and landed directly on top of her.

During her long rehabilitation Lolly obtained her own FES bike.

“Immediately after starting to use FES, I could actually see my muscles being built back up again and my body shape improving,” she said.

“It’s also the only therapy out there that gets the pulse and heart-rate going, which is so important for my type of injury.

“So now I’m cycling to Paris, and I’ve given up chocolate and alcohol for the period too.

“I’m very positive that in time a cure will be found, and I’m extremely excited about the results of research projects that are happening at the moment.

Spinal Research is the UK’s leading charity funding medical research around the world to find an effective treatment for spinal cord injury.

Since its establishment 35 years ago, the charity has funded over 130 research projects which have achieved a number of groundbreaking changes in the field.

Dr Mark Bacon, executive and scientific director at Spinal Research said: “Lolly is a real inspiration.

“Her fantastic efforts, and those of all the people that support us, are fundamental to developing treatments for spinal cord injury and its devastating effects.

“We receive no government funding for our research and rely on the public for donations.”

To support Lolly and Spinal Research to to www.justgiving.com/Lorraine-Mack5.