THREE pairs of siblings swam the English Channel for a hospital which treated a friend who died from cancer and a team member who was run over by a tractor.

The relay team swam the 21 miles between Dover and Calais in 15 hours and 21 minutes, raising almost £20,000 so far for London’s Kings College Hospital.

Their friend Matt Brooker, from Westerham, was treated at the hospital before dying from a liver tumour aged 39 in October.

Team member Matt Strange, aged 40, also had 19 reconstructive surgeries on his ankle at the hospital after his leg was run over by the tractor he had been driving in June 2007.

Mr Strange, of Cudham Lane, Cudham, said: “My left leg was totally crushed under a tractor, having lost control going downhill.

“My leg needed to be reconstructed and it took a long time to fight a number of infections that prevented the bone in my leg from fusing.

“During this time, I asked to have my leg amputated on a number of occasions as I often did not want to continue living with a frame around my leg.

“But the patience and skill of the hospital’s limb reconstruction team kept me going when things got difficult.

“Eventually, after 19 operations and nearly three years in a frame, the fusion was successful, and I was able to start walking again in early 2010.”

The team also included Mr Strange’s brother Tim, Simon Cochrane and Emma Corney, all from Bromley, and siblings Rupert Peel and Annie Croft, from Halstead and Westerham, respectively.

Mr Brooker’s 12-year-old son Harrison joined them for the last few hundred metres of the swim.

To support the Matt Brooker SOS (Siblings Only Swim) team and donate to the hospital, go to siblingsonly.btck.co.uk