In March of 2021 my husband, John Haycock, suffered a spontaneous brain haemorrhage during a Zoom meeting. He was placed in an induced coma and spent nearly two months in intensive care at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital before being transferred to the neurorehabilitation unit at the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield.

John spent another five months as a rehab inpatient. Brain injury is very cruel and affects everything it touches - physical health, mental health, cognitive function. It changes what you can do and who you are. John lost his speech, right hand vision, literacy, movement to his right arm and leg, and was left with cognitive impairments and epilepsy. An army of specialists at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals gradually put his body back together, and his rehab continued at home where we inched through various milestones - speaking ten words in a row, walking from the gate to the nearest lamppost, learning to make a sandwich. We had Post-It notes stuck over the house so he could learn the words for door, wall, fridge. Simple things like using a TV remote or locking a door were a complete mystery. John had been a Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Sheffield and Head of the Materials Science & Engineering department. It's been devastating for him to go from researching, publishing and giving talks all over the world to someone who had to completely re-learn how to read, write, speak and walk.

John has made more progress than we thought possible and one of the main things that has kept him going is his great love of biking and the freedom and friendships that come with it. First on an exercise bike, then his first wobbly outdoor miles with me running alongside holding onto him, and now regular 50 milers with his club, Sheffrec CC.

In August he'll be biking Land's End to John o' Groats over three weeks with Skedaddle - a Newcastle-based bike tour company who have been brilliant at supporting John with longer trips.

We are fundraising to raise money for two good causes. Firstly, for the hospitals at Sheffield which put him back together. Secondly, to muscular dystrophy research. Way back at the start of his scientific career, John benefited from a muscular dystrophy charity funding his University of Newcastle PhD which investigated muscle breakdown.

Throughout John's rehab and recovery I have asked a lot from all our friends and families, and that support has really kept us going. This is an unashamed ask again - if you're able to donate, that would be amazing. John will be posting updates on Strava/Facebook during his three week journey and I'll update here.

Thanks, Claire and John.