With ten children in one family there is bound to be the odd accident or two but even supermum Sue Dyer was shocked when she took one son to hospital with a fractured leg - and left with two of her boys in plaster.

Ouch! Two young Dyers in the wars

Mrs Dyer, who made national headlines when the first eight of her children were born in a perfect girl-boy succession, went to casualty with her second youngest Reuben when he fell over and injured his leg.

But while waiting for the 21-month-old toddler to be put in plaster, her third youngest son Luke, three, got his thumb trapped in a revolving door at Colchester General Hospital and needed a plaster cast too.

Mrs Dyer, 41, of the Chase, Great Tey, said: "It was just one of those things. It was awful at the time as I thought Luke's thumb had come off.

"Now both my little boys are feeling very sorry for themselves in plaster."

Reuben, who was born in June 2000, was the child who broke Mrs Dyer's record for girls and boys to be born in perfect succesion.

He followed Charlene, 14, James, 13, Kelly, 12, Daniel, ten, Kirsty, eight, Joe, seven, Natasha, five, and Luke. Little Ivan Junior, named after his dad, was born in August last year.

Published Tuesday, March 12, 2002