TWO sporty brothers who are deaf and gradually going blind are recovering after running the London Marathon.

Gavin and Matthew Dean, of Northdown Road, Welling, helped each other around the 26.2-mile course to raise £2,500 for the deafblind charity Sense.

The brothers suffer from Usher syndrome, a genetic disorder which means they are born deaf or hard of hearing and then gradually lose their sight.

Gavin, 23, who is doing a human biology and sports science degree at Suffolk University College, completed the course in five hours, 50 minutes after an old knee ligament injury flared up and his hearing aid began to fail.

He was relying on Matthew to help him around the course because his brother's sight is better than his.

In fact, the brothers ran arm-in-arm only halfway round the course.

Matthew, 25, said: "I was seizing up, so I went on. I felt quite upset and hit the wall' at 20 miles but for the last two miles I really went for it and was overtaking everyone." His time was five hours, 10 minutes.

The brothers have lived in Welling all their lives. Both went to Foster's Primary School and Matthew went on to Welling School, while Gavin went to a specialist secondary school.

Both enjoy cricket and football and play in teams for the visually impaired.

Matthew has two England caps for cricket and played in the national team for the visually impaired in Barbados in January.

Gavin, who hopes to qualify as a sports physiotherapist, is a goalkeeper and has played two internationals for England.

Praising the brothers' efforts, Sense's marathon project manager Jo Morgan said: "They gave 100 per cent in their training and fundraising and all their hard work has paid off."

The money will be used to help provide information and services to deaf-blind people and their families and the professionals who work with them.