For those who know me, before 30th April 2017 I was very fit and healthy. After a good early morning rowing session on Sunday 30th April I came home, had a bath and then sadly suffered a major stroke. This was only a week after my 51st birthday. An ambulance took me to the Gwent (Newport), where they tried twice to remove the clot in my brain. This failed and led to further bleeding and damage. My brain was swelling and surgery was the only option left. Luckily, the University Hospital Wales (Cardiff) is the centre for neurosurgery and I was rushed there for my operation. I was only given a very low chance of surviving this operation. The team quickly cut a 12cm square hole in the side of my skull to relieve the pressure on my brain preventing further damage. This bone plate was then put into my stomach for safe keeping. During the next six weeks we were just waiting for the swelling of my brain to reduce, so they could put my bone plate back in. After this second operation I remained in Cardiff for another two weeks and was then transferred to our local hospital where I stayed until August 2017. Since coming home in August I have been having daily physio to recover the use of my left arm and leg, both of which were lost as a result of my stroke. I started off having to use an indoor electric wheelchair, and have now progressed to walking with a stick (hobbling!), but sadly there is still little movement in my left arm. We hope both the walking, and use of my arm will continue to improve.

I have decided to enter this cycle event to raise money for four separate causes and also increase my own personal fitness to aid my walking recovery. The event, known as the Carten, is a road cycling challenge of 110 miles to be completed in one day, from Cardiff to Tenby. http://carten100.com/carten100-2018/. I will be using an adapted tandem tricycle to complete this event and will be relying on a group of friends not only to pedal hard at the front of the tandem, but also cycling along side us providing encouragement throughout. They must all be as mad as me!

The lucky individuals who have signed up for hours of fun so far are:

John and Lesley Palmer, Mike and Jayne Smith, Clare and Nigel and Abbie Sobik, Richard Morris, Rob Maloney, Sarah and Meg Kirkpatrick, Billy Holt, John and Silvana Williams, Paul Williams, Karl Stuckey, Neil Jones, Andrew Paton, Mike Sian and Jack Lewis, Scott Hazeldine.

We know that everyone is training really hard to support this cause. It's fantastic that so many people have joined me so far. Thank you to you all. Looking forward to training with you and to the big day! Good luck with the fundraising.

The money will be split in 25% chunks and will go to:

1. The Stroke Association

2. Neville Hall Hospital physio department in Abergavenny

3. Morello's Marvels para-cycling charity

4. My own personal re-habilitation (I am applying to attend a clinic in London which specialises in Upper limb re-hab)

My stroke has changed life for me and my family forever, and was completely out of the blue. Whether you feel able to support me or not in this cycling challenge I would ask you to consider a piece of advice from my recent experience- please don't put off until tomorrow the things you may enjoy today. It's a cliche and easy to say, but we none of us know what's around the corner. I remain optimistic about my continued recovery and know that with the support I have from friends and family we will find a way to continue with our hopes and dreams.