10 years ago this year I suffered a serious spinal fracture to my L1 vertebrae. I was rock climbing after recently starting university in Cardiff. I was told I may never walk again, but 3 weeks after the accident I underwent a spinal fusion to stabilise my spinal column. After a further 6 weeks in hospital, I was able to leave albeit assisted. Despite this, however, I was walking. After months, even years of recovery and more operations, I'm finally in a place where I feel I have overcome my injury. There has been a lot of pain, sacrifice and determination along the way but I feel thankful I have the power of movement. So to mark a decade since my accident, I've decided to run the half marathon for those who have lost that power. Spinal cord injuries are horrifying and change lives forever so it's vitally important we find even better treatments or even a cure. 

Spinal Research is the UK’s leading charity funding medical research around the world to develop effective treatments for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury. Every year 1,000 people in the UK and Ireland are paralysed following an injury to their spinal cord. We receive no government funding and rely entirely on the support of the public to raise funds for our research. Because of the efforts of our supporters, we have funded innovative medical research that has achieved a number of ground breaking changes in the field.