A man has found the love of his life following a hospital operation which left him in a wheelchair.

Sean Cox was 17 when a routine operation to cure him of bowel disease colitis caused severe nerve damage in his legs.

After plunging into the depths of depression, he got his life back on track by joining a volunteers scheme and instantly fell in love with fellow recruit Kerry Lord.

Kerry was also trying to recuperate after suffering from ME, which forced her to drop out of school during her GCSEs.

The couple have set up home together in Bannings Vale, Saltdean and celebrated by having tea with the Queen.

Sean, 25, and Kerry, 20, were invited to a Buckingham Palace garden party to reward their work with the Brighton and Hove Millennium Volunteers (BHMV).

Sean joined up a year ago after four years in which his entire life revolved around four-times-a-week physiotherapy sessions.

Doctors have called his condition an "incomplete lesion", which means he has some feeling and movement but cannot walk.

He said: "I didn't expect anything like that. I walked into the hospital and didn't walk out.

"It was very hard to deal with, especially at that age. I was in the middle of my A-levels but I had to put them on hold for a year."

After completing his exams at Lewes College, he spent the next four years travelling 150 miles a day for physiotherapy sessions in Romford, Essex.

Sean said: "It was a tough regime and eventually it just became too hard. I lost virtually all contact with friends and the outside world and was really low on confidence.

"Finally, I decided I needed to move on with my life and responded to an advert in The Big Issue for volunteers."

Kerry suffered from energy problems caused by an underactive thyroid from the age of 14.

She said: "I was working too hard at school and my body just gave up. I could hardly move. I was in a wheelchair for a year during which I gradually learned to walk again."

She applied for the BHMV scheme after hearing an advert on the radio. The pair met on an induction day.

Sean said: "The attraction was quite instant. I offered her a lift home and she accepted. She later said she surprised herself because she never usually takes lifts off strange men.

"We started to see each other more and things just got better."

For the past year Sean has been working at the Disability Advice Centre in Hove.

He said: "It's really helped me come out of my shell to work as a team and interact with people.

"I'm fine with life now. Other people suffer far worse things than I've had to deal with. And all this has now given me a lovely girlfriend."

Kerry now helps heart patients at Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton.

She said: "Sean takes what has happened to him very well and we're both just so happy we've been brought together."

Kerry and Sean are working towards their National MV Award of Excellence for completing 200 hours of volunteer work.

They were chosen as the city's representatives at last month's garden party for volunteers.

Kerry said: "The party made us very proud."

Anyone between 16 and 24 interested in becoming a Millennium Volunteer should contact Brighton and Hove co-ordinator Beth Thomas on 01273 749843.