A couple of years ago my doctor started talking to me about the risk of strokes. He talked about different risk factors, some of which we can't do anything about, like the ageing process and genetics, but others that we can influence like fitness, weight and diet. Until that conversation I had never given having a stroke a moment's thought.

I decided to do something about my lack of fitness and lose some weight. So I took up running (only in the dark to start with !) with the help of the excellent BBC couch to 5K app and ran my first 5K Park Run in Feb 2020 and have continued to run further and faster ever since.

Shortly after my Park Run, my father-in-law suffered a massive stroke that has left him unable to walk and eat, and he has difficulty speaking. He has a package of care support that enables him to live at home, but with a greatly reduced lifestyle.

There are over 1.3 million stroke survivors in the UK, with 100,000 strokes happening in the UK each year. That's one stroke every five minutes. Stroke Association believes everyone deserves to live the best life they can after stroke. Your support will help them to provide vital services, campaign for better stroke care and fund research into preventative and rehabilitative treatments. 

Help me raise as much as possible to help rebuild lives after stroke - thank you !

Graham