DAD Andrew Spencer had someone close to his heart when he took part in this year's London Marathon - his young son.

Seven-year-old William, from Henllys, Cwmbran, was born with one ventricle instead of two - a piece of the heart which pumps blood to the lungs.

"My son has got a rare heart condition, basically it's as if he was born with half a heart," Mr Spencer said.

"He had to have three major operations when he was younger. They attached the heart directly to the lungs so it flows through there.

"In many respects he's just a normal seven-year-old but he'll never be able to play contact sports like rugby because his blood doesn't clot very easily.

"A knock to you or me might be nothing, but William could come up with a terrible bruise because of internal bleeding."

Mr Spencer, 45, ran his 16th marathon on Sunday for the British Heart Foundation.

He went through months of training to undertake the gruelling 26.2 mile course, raising around £450 in the process.

He finished in three hours three minutes.

A British Heart Foundation spokeswoman said: "He was the first back out of all our fundraisers."

Although Mr Spencer time was impressive, running an average speed of 8.5 miles per hour for the duration of the race, he said he had hoped to do better.

"I was aiming for under three hours.

"My fastest time is 2:51 and my slowest was 3:06 so at least I'm consistent." he said.