The event, conceived by his sister Kayleigh, will take place at The Dolphin Pool in Poole on Saturday (October 30) from 5.30-7.30pm and will see the inspirational young man continue his remarkable recovery from a tragic incident.

Clark, formerly a lifeguard and a contender to compete at the London 2012 Olympics, innocently dived into a wave while swimming at Sandbanks Beach in Dorset on July 3 and hit his head on a rock.

The impact completely shattered his C5 vertebra and fractured C6 and C7 and it was not until six days after the accident that surgeons at Southampton Hospital could take bone from his hip to rebuild his spine.

The news he received was grave and it was unlikely he would ever move from the neck down again.

But in the six weeks he spent working with the staff in the High Dependency Unit at Poole Hospital, Clark recovered enough to be transferred to The Duke of Cornwall Spinal Injuries Unit in Salisbury to begin his rehabilitation.

The progress he has made in just 16 weeks has been phenomenal and he continues to regain sense and some voluntary movement in his lower body.

His London 2012 Olympic dream may now be over but his Paralympic dream has just begun with Clark aiming to swim at the Aquatics Centre in Stratford on the biggest stage of all in just under two years' time.

After his journey so far, it would be foolish to count out Clark competing at the London 2012 Paralympics and his aunt Allyson Rogers said that Clark has been delighted with the support he has received.

Rogers said: "Mark Webber, the Australian Formula 1 driver, sent a signed AutoSport magazine while Darren Kenny, the Paralympic four-time gold medallist, visited Ben last month and is hoping to make an appearance at our fundraiser on Saturday.

"In addition Alison Frost [the disability coach for British Swimming] visits Ben every week and is such a source of strength to him and has given him so much encouragement.

"Ben now has his sights set on swimming for Great Britain in the 2012 Paralympic Games and he already holds the record at The Duke of Cornwall Spinal Injuries Unit in Salisbury of 43 lengths in 20 minutes, a personal best from just three weeks ago!"

Clark, who formerly swam for Poole swimming club, was such a talent he was a national gold medallist in the sport and in September 2009 went to Queensland in Australia to train with top Australian swimming coach Dennis Cottrell at The Miami Pool to realise his dream of competing at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Clark had actually qualified to compete for England at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games and although his accident obviously prevented him from doing so, he continues to receive support from the team.

Rogers added: "Amanda Booth, who formerly coached Ben and now coaches the European Juniors, is attending the fundraiser along with friends of Ben that he previously swam with and are now medallists themselves.

"Cathy Patten, a silver medallist at Beijing, and Steven Beckerleg and Anthony James, who won medals at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games, will be there.

"We are anticipating around 200 swimmers at the moment and there are also other sponsored swims occurring concurrently in different locations, including one at The Miami Pool in Queensland which friends and supporters have organised because they can't be at ours.

"We are now very much focused on raising money for Ben to help him achieve his Paralympic Games Dream.

"Ben wants to set up his own charity, Chairs for Champions, and we are currently looking for a young creative web designer who can make this happen at little or no cost to us but possibly a nice return on services for a good cause and some good, positive press relations.

"One small idea has snowballed with lots of interest and donations coming in and we set up a webpage to channel this at www.andfm.co.uk/ben."

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