Broken Hill man who ran 27 marathons in 29 days finishes with fractured hip

A man who ran more than 1,000 kilometres through the outback to raise money and awareness for a rare disorder managed to complete the final leg with a fractured hip.

Mitch McKenny spent four weeks pounding the bitumen highway between Broken Hill and Newcastle on his mission for Angelman syndrome, which his friend's child, Huxley Maguire, was diagnosed with at four months old.

The rare genetic condition affects the functioning of nerves in the brain and can cause physical and intellectual problems.

Near Narromine, some 715km into the 34-year-old's massive run, after averaging eight hours a day of running for about two weeks straight, he began to experience pain in his hip.

Mr McKenny put it down to a pulled muscle and took the foot off the ignition for the 40km stretch between Narromine and Dubbo.

"[I was] under the impression at that stage that it was some kind of muscular injury or ligament injury," he said.

"[I] had a bit of a down-low kilometre day that day and the next day.

"By the time I got to Dubbo, I was moving pretty slowly,"

As Mr McKenny ran into Dubbo, he was met by a cheering crowd and seven-year-old Ted Johnson, who, like Huxley, lives with Angelman syndrome.

With his pushbike, Ted accompanied "Marathon Mitch" as he made his way through town.

But Huxley's family, who had been following along behind Mr McKenny, knew something was wrong when they caught up with him again in Dubbo.

"He was in pain. That was evident," Jess Maguire said.

After pushing him to go to Dubbo Hospital, he was given a full physical exam, and doctors implored Mr McKenny to quit the run before he did serious damage, but he would not hear of it.

Instead, he hit the road again and miraculously finished the final 380km despite his pain growing rapidly worse.

As he arrived in Newcastle on September 19, it was to much fanfare and a neck femur fracture in his right hip.

In the process, he also raised more than $160,000 for the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics Australia (FAST).

Feat of strength and endurance

Nearly a month on, Mr McKenny is still confined to crutches and will be for the next six weeks, but has no regrets.

After undergoing X-rays and MRIs, it became apparent he had suffered a stress fracture somewhere on his massive run, although he is still not "100 per cent sure" where.

His Broken Hill GP quickly booked him in for surgery in Adelaide, which left him with a plate and a few pins in his right hip.

Thinking back on the run, he said he remembered being in pain, but mostly recalled pushing to finish.

"I think your mind has a way of blocking out those kinds of memories on the pain and that kind of stuff," Mr McKenny said.

"I'm aware that it took place, [and I'm] happy and proud that we achieved that feat for Huxley, but no plans to do it again."

Mr McKenny said he believed the curve of the roads he was running on was the likely cause of the stress fracture.

"[I was] running on the right-hand side of the road so that I could see the cars … for safety reasons," he said.

"There's camber on the road, which unevenly distributed, I suppose, the force between both legs, so after a few days or a week, that started to build up."

It means his running days are behind him for now, but it was not something Mr McKenny said he felt too upset about.

Huxley's mothers, Bree and Jess Maguire, could not be prouder of Mr McKenny's efforts for their baby son and others who live with Angelman syndrome.

"It's just incredible what he's done. You can't put it into words."

For now, Mr McKenny is taking a rest and looking forward to walking without crutches in six weeks' time.