A PARALYMPIC hopeful is celebrating three new milestones, including a new British record, becoming the face of a meningitis charity and turning 16.

Lyndon Longhorne, from Crook, County Durham, has become one of 11 young ambassadors for the Meningitis Trust only days after smashing the British record for the 150m individual medley in his classification in the swimming pool.

Lyndon, who celebrated his 16th birthday last week, contracted meningitis and septicaemia when he was eightand- a-half months old. As a result, he had to have his legs, his right arm and part of his left hand amputated.

Undeterred, Lyndon is proving a top-class swimmer and his dream of representing Great Britain at next year’s Paralympic games received a boost after his latest record success.

The day before his 16th birthday he travelled to Sheffield where he smashed the previous record in the SM4 classification, set in 1995, of three minutes 14 seconds by 11 seconds.

His mother, Tammy Shevels, said: “He never thought he would do it and was delighted when he saw the time.

“We won’t know about the Paralympics until June, but he is putting in so much effort, training for 18-and-a-half hours a week and getting up at 4am to get it all in.”

With his GCSEs also looming, Ms Shevels said Lyndon is still managing to focus on his school work and ambition of becoming a web designer.

She said: “2012 is going to be a big year for Lyndon. He is doing well and is enjoying it all.”

Lyndon was hours away from death after being rushed to hospital in the early hours of August 3, 1996, and his only chance of survival was amputation.

He spent seven weeks in hospital and as he got older his family launched the Limbs for Lyndon appeal, raising more than £100,000 to buy the teenager prosthetic limbs.

He said he was delighted to become an ambassador for the Meningitis Trust, adding: “I want everyone to be aware of the support the trust offers, as well as the signs and symptoms of meningitis.

“Everyone, regardless of age, can be affected.”

Sue Davie, chief executive of the trust, said: “We are thrilled to have Lyndon on board, he is an inspiration to us all at the trust; his motto of believe and achieve is the spirit of this programme.

“I am really looking forward to what the team will bring to the trust in the coming years – I feel like a very proud adoptive mum.”

For more information about the work of the trust, visit meningitis-trust.org