East Yorkshire Half Marathon in Aid of WISHH Charity

Hello, thanks for visiting this page.

I am taking on my first ever half marathon in aid of the two hospitals that saved my life – Hull RI and Castle Hill.

A lot of my family and friends still don’t really know my full story, so here it is, in short, kind of…:

Back in October 2023 I had internal bleeding, the vein that ruptured in my head dripped directly into my stomach, unbeknownst to me, so I ended up rushed to hospital in the middle of the night regurgitating large amounts of blood. The vein was cauterized and off I went thinking that was the end of that.

It was soon discovered that the vein had popped as I was in hypertensive crisis, my blood pressure was off the charts sky high. I was prescribed meds which brought my BP down and had an extended stay at hospital making sure there was nothing else untoward.

Having been given the all clear, I still didn’t feel right. I was experiencing throbbing headaches and developed a torturous tinnitus in my left ear. After numerous visits to the GP, they finally took notice of me and sent me for an MRI scan which showed unusually large veins on an area of my brain.

It was at this point I was referred to the wonderful specialists at Hull RI/ Castle Hill.

2024 consisted of many visits to Hull for various scans and consultations.

It was eventually decided that I had an AV Fistula on my brain.

A fistula on the brain is a very rare case but the position of my fistula was not something any of the specialists had seen before!

It was classed as grade 3 and I was told I would likely suffer from a burst aneurysm within 12 months so time was of the essence.

Some of the best neurosurgeons from around the country were involved in discussions of how best to treat me and I can’t thank them enough.

It took three surgeries injecting dye, fitting coils and glueing off different veins to effectively kill off the fistula. Not a pleasant experience.

I have never felt such relief when the doctor told me the third operation had been a success, perhaps the euphoria was helped on by the large dose of morphine!

I’m now in a position I dreamed of when I was laid up in hospital, I’m back to full health, able to exercise again and would love to give back to those who looked after me in my time of need.

I have never been much of a runner, never been so unfit and never run this distance before!

I’m running to raise money for the WISHH charity which goes directly towards enhancing facilities, equipment and services for the 60,000+ patients across the two hospitals as well as their visitors and the staff.

Any donation you can make would be very much appreciated (and help spur me on with my training).

Thank you for your support.

Greg