A CARDIFF University student ran more than 140km in a week, despite a broken hand and an infected foot, to raise money for his paralysed brother.
Chris Priestley, 21, a finance and banking student, initially joined Cardiff University’s triathlon club last year with the intention of involving the club in raising money for the Transverse Myelitis Society.
His brother, Jonathan Priestley, 19, a politics student at Nottingham University, caught the transverse myelitis virus, when he was six months old which has left him paralysed from the lower part of his body and is now in a wheelchair.
But a few weeks before starting the Iron-Man Circuit fundraising event last weekend, which involved running, cycling and swimming, Chris injured his hand and could not take part in the event, so he decided to run seven half-marathons in seven days instead.
“I did it before my lectures and so I got up at 5 o’clock every day for a week to run. I got an infection on my foot on the fourth run but I carried through,” said Chris who is now on crutches while his foot gets better.
He said: “It was for my brother and because I already had got donations I couldn’t stop doing it.
“He has been through so many surgeries and every time Transverse Myelitis has done so much to support the family.”
While Chris was running, nearly 50 participants from Cardiff University triathlon club, which opened only last year, took part in the Iron-Circuit, which was organised last weekend.
They have raised a total of nearly £2,400 for the charity and on March 18, Chris and the club also teamed up with Santander and did 12 hours of cycling on exercise bikes in front of the bank’s branch on Queen Street from 8am to 8pm.
Santander promised to double the amount of money Chris and the triathlon club would make that day, which amounted to nearly £800.
It is estimated there are no more than 300 new cases of transverse myelitis in the UK each year which causes an inflammation of the spinal cord.
Transverse Myelitis Society tries to improve the condition of life for people suffering from the virus and supports their families. Stem cell research could potentially lead to ways to treat the virus.
