In April 2013, Andy, a friend of the family, had an accident while kite surfing in Poole. He was airlifted to Southampton hospital and found to have multiple injuries including broken bones, internal bleeding and, most seriously, a traumatic brain injury.

After eight months in a high dependency unit and another four years in a rehabilitation hospital he returned to his home in West Sussex in 2017 (pic above is him at home with his niece).

During his time in hospital he had to learn how to eat and walk again and regain the ability to speak.

Sadly his brain is badly damaged so his memory is poor and he does not have the mental capability to run his own daily life or to be left on his own so now lives with 24 hour care.

He has intensive speech and physical therapy several times a week to help maintain and build on the progress he made in hospital.

His speech has improved, but he has great difficulty putting words together to communicate. As a result, his speech is often a jumble of unconnected words. He cannot use his right hand and has little use of his right arm. He can walk but his right leg and balance are poor so he always has to be held.

The speech therapy is improving his ability to communicate. It is also improving his memory and helping him relearn letters, numbers and words. The physiotherapy is improving his strength and walking and it is getting movement back into his right arm.

It is this progress that is so important as it has a massive impact on his quality of life. However, there is no help from the State for these crucial therapies. Without them his progress would cease and he would start to go backwards.

Andy has made a lot of progress since the dark days of the early months after his accident when he lay in hospital semi-conscious and unresponsive, but there is still a long way to go.

Many of his friends and family have done incredible things to support him over the years, from huge cycles to marathons and more, but whilst the improvement Andy makes is fantastic, the intensive therapy itself is expensive and it is ongoing.

In April, I'm going to be running 251kms over 7 days across the Saharan desert in Morocco. It's called The Marathon Des Sables and it's supposed to be one of the toughest foot races in the world. Competitors carry all their own food, bedding and clothes required for 7 days (around 8 kilos of gear plus water) and brave sandstorms, snakes, blisters, chafing, dehydration and of course exhaustion, before finally getting to the finish. I first attempted to do this in 2020, only to have it canceled after 18 months of training due to Covid lockdowns. I've since started raining again and have gradually worked up from casual weekend runs, to around 100kms a week, carrying heavy packs during a hot Australian Summer, so it's been tough but it’s going to be a whole lot tougher in the desert.

What will keep me going when things begin to hurt, is the knowledge that in doing so, we can help Andy and his ongoing battle towards rehabilitation. What he’s achieved to date in his recovery is truly amazing, but with your help we can help him continue to go further. So please, help Andy (and me) by donating to this site.

We all get asked to donate a lot of the time, and many people have already given very generously, but if you can spare anything I’d be hugely grateful.

For anyone interested in knowing more about Andy's condition and what Traumatic Brain Injury is all about please check out:

Headway

Thanks so much in advance!

Andy, his friends, his family and I, are all extremely grateful.

Rob

Lastly, huge thanks to those people who donated in 2020 - whilst Covid cancelled the race we still raised 440 GBP. We've had to start a new page so your donations and messages aren't showing up, but your generosity and thoughts have been HUGELY appreciated and recognised. Thank you to...Jac, Andy & P, Neil M, Chris & Lana, Peter & Janet, Kat Stapleton and other anonymous givers!