UPDATE on April 6: I completed the half-marathon yesterday - a beautiful day in Blackpool. Please keep on donating and help us raise our target of £1000 for Combat Stress.

Thanks for visiting my fundraising page. I'm running a half-marathon in Blackpool, England, on April 5 to raise money for the veteran's mental health charity Combat Stress.

Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: COMBAT STRESS gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.

So please sponsor me now!

What is Combat Stress?

Combat Stress is the only UK charity specialising in the treatment of veterans with service related psychological injuries, ranging from clinical depression, raised anxiety states, phobic disorders, obsessional compulsive disorders through to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

It has three short stay specialist treatment centres in Surrey, Shropshire and Scotland. Last year Combat Stress received 1,160 new referrals, including 185 from the ongoing conflict in Iraq and 30 from Afghanistan - the youngest of whom is only 20 years old, bringing to nearly 8,500 the number of veterans in the care of Combat Stress. 

Combat Stress offers treatment and support to a group of vulnerable, often forgotten ex-Service men and women. With your assistance Combat Stress can continue to offer these veterans the care they need from Clinical staff and Welfare Officers.

Please watch the video to find out more about Combat Stress, or visit www.combatstress.org.uk

On a personal note

My late father, Robert Johnson, fought in North Africa and Italy against Fascism in World War Two as a soldier in the British 8th Army, alongside American forces and Italian resistance fighters. Growing up in the 1960s in North Shields I remember an ambulance came to our door to take him to hospital - the malaria he had contracted in North Africa had flared up again. Combat Stress does great work with veterans who face the challenge of psychological injuries -  which can also flare up many years after a conflict is over. Please support their work.