Hello,
this is my chance to raise some money for the incredible organisation to whom I owe my life.
In August 2008 I was attempting a long distance fell run called the Bob Graham Round. Five hours into the run I suffered an accident. Falling 150m down the side of Blencathra in the Lake District I broke 7 bones and suffering serious head injuries.
The teams bleepers went off at 0615 and they rolled out of bed and made their way to my location on foot, without breakfast. They then spent 4 hours tending to my immediate medical needs, and arranging a helicopter to come and take me to hospital. Because of the bad weather the team had to manually transfer me for an hour down a ravine and across the fell before reaching a location where the helicopter could winch me from.
Having successfully packaged me off to hospital they returned to their base where some left and spent the rest of their day in their 'day jobs' and some were called to a second incident on a different mountain.
The team do this incredibly demanding job, not for money, but for the love of it, 365 days a year 24 hours a day. The team relies on charitable donations for its operation, and receives no statutory funding.
After 20 months in rehab, 25 hours of surgery over 7 separate operations and countless minor procedures, I have finally reached a level where I can attempt to repay some of the debt I owe to this team of incredibly humble and dedicated people.
I shall be competing in three events for my summer series: on 3 July I shall compete in the Great London Swim, a 1 mile open water swim in central London; on 28 July I shall be competing in the Human Race sprint triathlon at Dorney Lake, Eton, (750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run); and on the 5 September I shall complete the Bristol Half Marathon.
I know this has been a long introduction but thank you for reading and please donate generously to the team.
Simon Miller
