This is Jim. At the beginning of 2016 Jim was a fairly normal man. He worked in an office Monday to Friday, walked his dog in the evenings and spent weekends with his family. 

On 25th March 2016, Jim enjoyed a family day out to a local park, rode on a miniature train with his one year old son and started to make plans for the summer.
On 27th March, Easter Sunday, Jim had a heart attack. He went to his local hospital and there the fight to save Jim's life began. He was transferred to the regional cardiac centre and within a week he had been transferred to Papworth Hospital. Jim was in heart failure. Exactly one week after his original heart attack he underwent open heart surgery to fit him with a bi- ventricular assist device (BiVAD). Jim woke from his surgery and learnt that the only option open to him is a heart transplant. He is now on the waiting list and will remain in Papworth's critical care ward until a donor heart is found.

Papworth Hospital have gone above and beyond what Jim expected to help him continue with his life. On 11th April Jim got married in the critical care unit with the help and support of all the doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, physiotherapists, domestic and administrative staff who are looking after him. Jim's adult daughter and sister were able to be the witnesses on his special day. Jim has also been provided with patient WiFi access which has enabled him to keep in touch with his one year old son through daily Skype calls. This means he can play peekaboo on a daily basis and has helped Jim's son adjust to the huge change in his life.

Papworth encourages patients on BiVAD to mobilise and with the help of a team of physiotherapists Jim started using an exercise bike. Not someone to let heart failure hold him back, Jim has cycled 50.6 miles to date. Keen to help Papworth Hospital Charity, Jim has pledged to raise money to enable Papworth to give other families the chance that his has been given.

Jim's first target is 90 miles, which would be far enough to get him home to kiss his one year old son goodnight.

Once he has smashed that target, who knows? The world is his oyster. We will update here regularly to track Jim's miles and adventures.

Please donate what you can, and share this with your friends to help Jim on the ride of his life.

And whilst I have your attention, let's think about organ donation. Organ donation saves lives and families. The link below will take you to the organ donation register and it will only take you a couple of minutes to register.

https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/

Update- as of 25th April Jim's miles total 74.3!  He has nearly cycled all the way from Papworth to Mansfield. 

Update as of 28th April- Jim has completed the final leg of his journey home- his total miles now are 90.1 which means he has cycled the journey from Papworth to his home in Mansfield.   

Now where to go next?  

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.