A WOMAN who could barely walk a year ago will be climbing into a pool to raise hundreds of pounds for victims of the Haiti earthquake.

Marie Jones, from Headington, suffered months of excruciating pain as a result of two prolapsed discs, which had collapsed into her spinal canal.

After two operations at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, in Windmill Road, Headington, to repair the damage in March last year, she began a slow and painful recovery and began swimming in a bid to get fit again.

Miss Jones, a community and outreach project man- ager for Oxford Brookes University, was so moved by the plight of the millions of people suffering in Haiti that she wanted to do something.

Now the 37-year-old has pledged to swim at least 100 lengths to raise money for the Disasters Emergency Committee Appeal.

She said: “We were having a discussion about donating some money from our Unison branch. I got thinking about it and thought ‘I have got to do something’.

“Since my operation, swimming has been my salvation and recovery.

“Now I am getting back to fitness, to celebrate the fact I have the use of my body back I wanted to try and use it to do something positive.”

The Ozone Health Club, at the Kassam Stadium in Greater Leys, has agreed to let her use its pool to carry out the sponsored swim on Monday, February 1, and Bravissimo has donated a swimming costume.

Miss Jones, who has an 18-year-old son, Cameron, said: “A year ago I couldn’t even walk because I was in absolute agony.

“For the first couple of months after the surgery I was walking with a stick and trying to regain my balance.

“It was a long haul recovery.”

She added: “I would not dream of comparing what I have been through to what people in Haiti are suffering because it is appalling, it breaks my heart.

“But what it has made me do is be very grateful to be alive and not in pain, and appreciate the little things in life that have been taken away from them.”

Miss Jones said: “It will be hard to swim for so long but I guarantee I will do at least 100 lengths.

“If everybody could be encouraged by what I’m doing to get off their bums and do something that would be great, because the worst thing is to do nothing.”

To sponsor Miss Jones, go to the website justgiving.com/marietheminx

* A walk for the earthquake victims takes place from Blackbird Leys, Oxford, on Saturday. Supporters will meet outside Blackbird Leys Community Centre at 10am and walk into the city centre.

Organiser Justin Davis, 28, of Kestrel Crescent, Blackbird Leys, wants people to join him as he collects donations.