Last year I ran the Bath Half Marathon for the RUH Forever Friends Appeal, just one year after breaking my hip in a cycling accident. 

The appeal was a great success, and I would just like to add to it with this year's race.

If you contributed last year, please don't feel that you need to do so again - although every penny helps!

I am still not back to the fitness I enjoyed before the accident - but on the other hand, I know that I can run a half marathon!

The section below relates to last year, but explains mine, and my company's, involvement.

By the way, the picture shows the extra weight that I have to carry when running!

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CFH Docmail has been a key sponsor and supporter of the Forever Friends Appeal, the charity that supports Bath’s Royal United Hospital, with particular interest in supporting the building of the new RUH Cancer Centre.

I think it’s likely that every family in Britain has been touched by Cancer to a greater or lesser degree. Last year was particularly bad for myself and the team at CFH, as we lost a number of good friends, colleagues and ex-colleagues.

This year, we are once again the key sponsor for the Forever Friends team at the Bath Half Marathon through our Velopost division. This is our third time at being the main sponsor, and to date we have reached almost £17,000 of donations.

In February 2015 I managed to crash my bicycle while racing at a corporate event at the Velodrome in East London. I broke my hip – which means that I broke the head of the Femur of my right leg (the largest bone in the body).

The NHS in East London were great. They put me back together with a plate and four screws in an operation called a “Dynamic hip screw” – something far less exciting than it sounds! As a result I missed running the Bath Half Marathon with the CFH team last year.

So as we approach this year’s Bath Half Marathon, I really want to put something back into the NHS – both in gratitude for fixing me, but also in memory and tribute to the good friends that I have lost this year.

I have spent 2015 recuperating and trying to recover my fitness and get back to running. It proved far harder than I thought it would (but then I am closer to 60 years old than 50). I still have trouble bending my leg enough to get my socks on!

Normally the Bath Half has been a personal running challenge - Something where I set myself the challenge of running in under two hours.

This year the challenge is different – can I complete a half marathon with my Femur held together by plates and screws, and just over a year since I broke it? (Frankly, compared with what I have seen friends with Cancer go through - this is easy).

As I said, I don’t normally ask for sponsorship, but am normally the sponsor, and my running is for personal pleasure. This time the challenge is harder, and as such it feels like it is something more deserving of your support, so for the first time, and in these unusual circumstances, I am seeking that support.

Will you help me raise £10,000 towards the new RUH Cancer Centre?

I am seeking the support of all of the customers, suppliers and stakeholders in CFH Docmail, alongside of friends, family and colleagues – so I am really hoping to beat the target – and run (or limp) 13.2 miles on a recently broken hip…

Please help with as much or as little as you can, and help me put something back into the NHS.