A HOSPITAL patient from Mill Hill who has aspirations to be a future Olympic champion has been selected as a torchbearer for next year’s games.

Horse-riding champion Michael Murphy, 14, suffers from Dejerine-Sottas disease, which causes severe muscle weakness and loss of sensation in his limbs.

He is recovering from spinal surgery that he underwent at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH), in Brockley Hill, to correct the curvature in his spine, where metal rods were inserted to straighten his back.

Michael is the youngest winner of a 2* Senior Para Dressage international competition and was chosen to carry the torch by Lloyds TSB, presenting partners of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay.

He was told he would be a torchbearer by Ade Adepitan, paralympic bronze medallist in wheelchair basketball, who visited him personally.

Michael said: "This has come as a great surprise and I wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't for the support from my family and friends.

"My main aim is of course to focus on the 2016 Paralympic Games but in the meantime, this gives me the opportunity to be part of London 2012."

Mr Adepitan said: “I carried the Olympic torch in 2004 in London and in Beijing in 2008 and it was the best experience.

“Michael will be welcomed by hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of London and he will be part of the Olympic and Paralympics history."

Michael’s mother, Sue Murphy, gave a special thanks to trainer Sarah Healing, at Penniwells Riding School for the Disabled, in Elstree.

Mrs Murphy said: “She has been so supportive and really goes the extra mile.

“I would also like to say a huge thank you to Mr Nordeen and his team at the RNOH for their specialist support and the fantastic correction they have carried out on Michael’s spine.”