As an Occupational Therapist and keen runner I was shocked to read about one of the North Easts finest athletes suffering a spinal cord injury in a diving accident in America and having to face the long road of recovery and rehabilitation to rebuild his life.

I'm currently working at the regional spinal cord injury unit in Middlesbrough so I see on a daily basis the efforts that individuals put into their rehabilitation to maximize their independence and fitness levels with reduced muscular function.

Drew Graham's Pop UP Gym concept aims to provide a rehabilitation and fitness maintenance service for people who have spinal cord injuries that rather than having one location, travels all around the north.

They aim to provide a fun and pleasant environment for their clients to feel comfortable to exercise in, without feeling self-conscious.

They operate as a non for profit set up and are managed by Drew Graham a C4 tetraplegic.

I am running the Brass Monkey Half Marathon on Sunday 15th January and hope you can spare a few quid to support Drew on his fantastic mission to help people like himself maintain their fitness levels and social contacts with like minded individuals following life changing injury.

I know the hard work that those with spinal cord injuries put into their rehab sessions so I have set myself a goal of running a PB in the race, so that means training hard to beat 1 hour 15 minutes 10 seconds!

Cheers for your support

Andy

Copy and paste the link below to see a video produced by PoP Up Gym

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/paralysed-drew-graham-riding-distance-11517819