THANK YOU EVERYONE for the astounding response, I spoke to Headway yesterday and they were so unbelievably grateful it makes it all worthwhile! We've now exceeded our original target of £5k so we have upped it to £7.5k - really fantastic and thanks to everyone for your support! We will try our best to do everyone justice! John & Sam

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page, where myself and Sam Barnett have undertaken to do Ironman Zurich on 10th July this year, helping to raise money for a very personal cause, which is in honour of my Mum, Carole.

Unlikely as it may sound, I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking to derive some form of personal satisfaction from this slightly insane venture, but most importantly we are also doing it in favour of a cause which is very close to my heart: Headway, the Brain Injury Association.

As many of you may know, following what was supposed to be a routine outpatient appointment on October 26, 2009, my mother Carole sadly suffered complications resulting in a respiratory and cardiac arrest. Due to the length of time it took the medical team to resuscitate her, Mum suffered a significant brain injury and is now in a neurological rehabilitation centre needing round the clock care. What happened has been an absolute tragedy for the whole family, but most of all for Mum who was in the prime of her life - a talented, vivacious, loving, selfless and wonderful person. This picture was taken just a number of days before it happened.

What is an Ironman, you might ask? Well ... it is a 3.8km swim, then a 180km bike ride, followed by a 42.2km run (yep, that is a full marathon). Back to back and without any breaks.

This is a huge challenge, and it's going to take a massive amount of training and commitment, which really started in earnest with a half-Ironman we completed in Austria in September. I can assure you that after 6 hours of competing (OK .... 5 1/2 for Sam .... sore subject!) I wasn't in any hurry to do the whole thing again!!

We would really appreciate it if you would pledge your support to help us reach our target of £5,000. Please dig deep and support what we hope you will agree is an awesome cause.

John Millward & Sam Barnett