Thank you for visiting my fundraising page and helping to raise valuable funds and awareness for a Blesma that has supported me through my own personal recovery journey and allowed me to live an independent and fulling life as an amputee.

Charity – Blesma (https://blesma.org), The Limbless Veterans, is dedicated to assisting serving and ex-Service men and women who have suffered life-changing limb loss or the loss of use of a limb, an eye or loss of sight. They support these men and women in their communities throughout the UK and overseas. Working tirelessly for their Members when the conflicts that have affected their lives are no longer a focal point in the nation’s media. Since 1932, they have been the only national Service charity that supports limbless veterans for the duration of their lives. Blesma's Members range from the youngest amputee veterans to those who fought in WWII, some having lived with limb loss for more than half a century. Modern medicine transforms the physical injury, but it is a complicated process to treat the emotional trauma and related lifelong health problems. Blesma provides a network where Members not only enjoy support from their professional Welfare Team, but where they have the opportunity to engage with others who have similar injuries and backgrounds to themselves, building an important fellowship with each other to overcome everyday battles.

Personal journey - After joining the British Army in 2007 I served with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment for 6 years where I deployed on three operational tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

During my final tour in 2012, my vehicle triggered and detonated an improvised explosive device (IED), where both my driver and I both suffered life changing injuries. After a tough year and a half of surgery and rehabilitation to help me walk again I unfortunately was injured in a second incident which led to the loss of my right leg below the knee in 2014.

Determined not to be defined by disability I completed my first ever Ironman out in Majorca in 2016. This was just one of many major challenges I undertook post injury, pushing the limits of life and endurance wherever I could.

The challenge - On the 9th May 2022 I will be taking on possibly one of the toughest endurance challenges I’ve ever taken on as an amputee. I’ll be cycling the GB Divide route from Lands End to John O’Groats which is a 2000km route with 30,700m of climbing. The route will take me on single-track, gravel roads, byways, and quiet rural lanes through some of the most challenging and incredible landscape the United Kingdom has to offer.

Throughout the duration of the challenge I’ll be supported by the team from AVA Classics who will be providing an amazing bespoke electrified AVA Land Rover Croxford Defender to link in with me on accessible parts of the route. The Defender is such an iconic vehicle which epitomises reliability and robustness which will be a hugely reassuring asset. Using an electric support vehicle is hugely important to ensure we are able to reduce our environmental impact throughout the challenge where possible.

Riding for this distance and duration with little rest would push an able-bodied rider to their extreme both physically and mentally. As an amputee this will add extra stress and factors I will need to think about and overcome daily. I’ve never put this amount of stress through my residual limb and prosthetic so will be riding into the unknown. To complete this challenge I’ll have to rely hugely on my own resilience to pull myself through some very challenging times. This will be made that little bit easier knowing that we’ll be raising money for a fantastic charity that is there to provide lifetime support to Veterans and their families suffering from loss of limb or sight loss.

Thank you so much for your time and generosity.

Stu