MORE than £2,000 has been raised by a Dorset man to support a woman who suffers from a life threatening condition he met by chance in a local shop.

Bridport resident Simon Jordan rode more than 1,000 miles in 24 hours on a motorbike to raise funds to help a woman he met in Morrisons who suffers from a rare disorder.

Mr Jordan had due to ride from Land's End to John O' Groats with friends in August. He was forced to abandon the trip after breaking down just 10 miles into the journey.

Returning to Bridport, Mr Jordan went to Morrisons where a woman collapsed in front of him. He offered assistance and ended up taking her home.

Mr Jordan learnt the woman, a 28-year-old mother to two children aged seven and five, suffers from a rare condition called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) which affects tissue in the body.

The experience prompted him to raise some funds for the woman to try and make her life easier, and decided to tackle the original journey from Land's End to John O' Groats in less than 24 hours.

Mr Jordan said: "In the supermarket I heard a mother say to her daughter that she’s about to have an episode before slumping to the floor and shaking all over.

"I asked her if there is anything I can do and she replied that the shaking will stop but the pain will kick in shortly after.

"Her young daughter then asked if they could get a cab home, to which her mother quickly replied that they couldn't afford a cab. My heart sunk."

He added: "I took her back to her home and had a chat with her and thought 'this is why I wasn't supposed to do the ride'."

Mr Jordan completed the mammoth ride with two friends, setting off from Land's End at 4.30am on Friday, September 24 and arriving at John O' Groats at 10.30pm, having ridden 1,079 miles in just 22-and-a-half hours.

Mr Jordan said: "There are no accidents, everything has a purpose. My bike breaking down led to this, if I was up in Scotland like I was supposed to be I would have never have met this lady and I would have never been able to raise this money for her."

The JustGiving page set up for this fundraiser has currently raised £2,500 which will go towards providing the woman with a mobility scooter and anything else she could use to make her life a little easier, as well as giving her seven-year-old daughter some well deserved time off.

For more information, or to donate, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/scooterforjess