In 2013, I was found fitting in a Gloucestershire street following an early Saturday morning run, when working as a Rugby Journalist.

A Good Samaritan found me and called an ambulance where I was whisked away to Frenchay Hospital (just outside Bristol) and placed in an induced coma to give my body the best chance of recovery.

My amazing girlfriend Amy (who was living in Dorset), and my family (who all lived in Leicester) hit the road not knowing what to expect.

What followed then was a scary and uncertain time - nobody knew ‘who’ was going to wake up from my coma - if at all.

Nine months in a Salisbury Rehabilitation Hospital then came next where I mastered basics such as learning to walk and talk again - while visiting hours were dictated to when my amazing support network could see me.

I was launched into a very different-looking world eventually - with short-term memory issues, emotional liability and medication-controlled epilepsy.

However, I found comfort and support from Headway - the brain injury association firstly in Gloucestershire, then later in Dorset.

This previously unknown to me charity helped bridge the choppy and uncertain waters between the medical/hospital world - and the real everyday world.

Put simply: they gave me a place back in the world again.

Friendships were formed over a weekly hot drink, and new relationships were forged over weekly cooking sessions in the kitchen.

I returned to work at two Gloucestershire daily newspapers in 2014, when safe to do so, and I was lucky enough to report at my second Rugby World Cup in England 2015, then my third at Manchester in 2016 - having reported at New Zealand in 2011.

More important then that, in the beautiful Autumn of 2016, I was lucky enough to walk down the aisle with, who I called: ‘the heartbeat of my recovery’ - Amy.

A year later, the greatest blessing then arrived - our beautiful son Reggie.

Weighing in at a whopping TEN pounds - and announcing his arrival into the world in true style by ‘marking his territory’ - shall we say.

Just five years after my family were told I may never walk again - and I would most likely have to spend the rest of my life living in care facilities, I completed the London Marathon - a lifelong dream of mine.

I managed to run the first 20 miles of the world’s most iconic running event, until fatigue got the better of me - but just like the amazing cause I was raising money for - the incredible crowds of our capital carried me home.

You cannot describe the gratitude you have for complete and utter strangers coming out to show their support for people unknown to them on a hot Sunday April morning.

Added to this, 2018 was one of the hottest London Marathon in history, so witnessing fellow runners pass out due to extreme heat exhaustion on the final straight - and not being able to help them - was quite distressing.

It is said in running, a marathon is 90 per cent a mental feat - and just 10 per cent physical.

I shall never forget walking the final mile on The Mall seeing and hearing people shout out ‘You can do it!’ or ‘You’re so close to the finish!’ - in a scene reminiscent of the 1993 classic bobsleigh film ‘Cool Runnings.’

Since then, I have continued my fundraising journey for Headway by completing two Leicester Half Marathons - and three Bournemouth Half Marathons.

Anything you could spare to keep the amazing Dorset branch of Headway going - which is run by a fellow amazing brain injury survivor - would be hugely appreciated.

Every 90 seconds, someone is admitted to a UK hospital with a brain injury.

Whether because of head injury, tumour, stroke, haemorrhage or neurological infection, the effects of a brain injury can be life-changing and life-long. That’s why, when the unthinkable happens, expert help is vital.

Headway UK – the brain injury association is here to support survivors, their families and carers, every step of the way.