Acton Woman Takes on Marathon Challenge After Losing Her Leg

Jeanette Winyard will join her daughter for part of the route

Jeanette Winyard (left) with her daughter Georgia

April 2, 2025

A 61-year-old woman is to take on part of this month’s London Marathon just 14 months after she had her leg amputated.

Jeanette Winyard will be walking 2.62 miles of the course as her 25-year-old daughter Georgia takes on the whole circuit. They will both be raising funds for the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital’s (RNOH) charity which they credit with enabling Jeanette to walk again.

She was first diagnosed with muscular sarcoma after discovering a lump in her right leg in 2000. She endured surgery and radiotherapy at the Royal Marsden Hospital, followed by several relapses that required further gruelling surgeries and treatments at UCLH. In 2015, as a result of the previous surgeries, Jeanette’s right foot turned inwards, meaning she needed an operation at the to straighten her ankle and toes so she could walk normally.

But just when she thought the worst was behind her, Jeanette discovered a small lump behind her knee in November 2023. Initially just a slight pain, it quickly became worse, leaving her unable to complete daily activities. A scan confirmed that she had an aggressive osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer.

Faced with limited options, doctors at RNOH determined that the best course of action was an above-knee amputation. The surgery took place in February 2024, just days before Georgia moved to New Zealand for work. Jeanette says: “By this time, I was glad to have the surgery because I was in so much pain, I couldn’t do much.”

Jeanette even spent her 60th birthday in hospital, but thanks to the e team at RNOH, she was discharged just eight days later.

She says, “The staff at RNOH Stanmore did an amazing job to get me home the day after my birthday and so I could be home for the weekend before Georgia moved to New Zealand.”

Georgia was in two minds about leaving but her mother convinced her to grab the opportunity. “It worked for me as a good reminder that you never know what is going to happen so you should take opportunities as they come,” Georgia says. Jeanette adds, “I have now visited Georgia in New Zealand – something I never thought would be possible 12 months ago.”

After the amputation, Jeanette faced months of chemotherapy, which was made even tougher by reduced cardiac function from previous treatments. But in May, she was given a life-changing opportunity – a place in a trial for a prosthetic leg with an adjustable socket, meaning she didn’t have to wait until after chemo to start learning to walk again.

Her recovery hit a heart-breaking setback in October when Jeanette suffered a fall and broke her residual femur, the remaining part of her leg above the prosthetic, forcing her to stop using the prosthetic for three months. But Jeanette refused to be beaten and with sheer determination and support from the physiotherapists at RNOH, she has slowly built her strength back up. She has even had access to cutting-edge rehabilitation in the hospital’s state-of-the-art Motor Learning Lab, where the new motion capture treadmill was funded entirely by a s donation to RNOH Charity, which fundraises to provide world-class facilities at this national NHS hospital, vital in a time of stretched health budgets.

Jeanette rehabilitating on the motion capture treadmill (left) and walking with her new prosthetic (right)

Now, less than a year after learning to walk again, Jeanette is taking on a challenge with Georgia. As Georgia runs the iconic London Marathon, Jeanette will push herself to walk 10% of the same distance proving just how far she has come.

“I’m really looking forward to the event,” Georgia says. “The support and atmosphere in London are supposed to be some of the best in the world, and even better, I get to combine it with a trip back home to see friends and family. But more than that, it will be a great achievement for my mum to walk 2.62 miles, less than a year after her last setback and her determination to walk again.”

The duo is raising funds to support ongoing cancer treatment and rehabilitation services at RNOH through RNOH Charity. Donations can be made through their JustGiving page.