Many of my friends, family and colleagues will know that my interest in Spinal Injuries started in 1994 when I was a first-year registrar at Salisbury Hospital. This was the first time a had worked at a hospital with a Spinal Injury Unit and also when I first met my partner’s brother, who is tetraplegic and has been massively inspirational to me.

He taught me about the “hidden” day to day challenges of living with a Spinal Injury. Despite all of the challenges he is married, has a child and holds down a full-time job. I returned to Salisbury as a Consultant Colorectal Surgeon in 2000, and continued to work with the Spinal Unit.

I am now retired, 60 years old and in need of a challenge! I was lucky enough to be accepted to run the TCS 2025 London Marathon for Spinal Research.

Over the last 40 years the Spinal Research charity has helped to deliver major advances in the understanding of spinal cord biology. These advances have allowed scientists to understand more about how the spinal cord responds to an injury, and what is needed to fix it.

The most recently funded projects include clinical studies for the restoration of hand and arm function, improvements to help with bladder and bowel control and the reduction of debilitating nerve pain. Improvements in any of these areas will have a huge impact on the everyday independence, spontaneity and quality of life for people living with paralysis.

With numerous trials taking place around the world producing promising results, we are now seeing the first generation of therapies which will deliver functional recovery for those suffering a spinal cord injury.

Every 2 hours someone in the UK is paralysed by a spinal cord injury. 12 new spinal cord injuries occur each day. 4400 new injuries occur every year in the UK. There are currently105,000 people in the UK living with a spinal cord injury.

Please consider sponsoring me to help this charity fund further research to improve the quality of life of all those living with a spinal cord injury in the UK.