When Roger Unsworth suffered a stroke, he had no idea whether he would ever be able to walk again. But thanks to the excellent medical care he has received, a little luck and some dogged determination, he has regained full mobility.
And now he has roped in two pals to accompany him on an epic fundraising trek to Rome – walking every step of the 2000km route.
Roger, 60, a former RAF communications technician, explained that his stroke three years ago came out of the blue: “I was lying in bed and I noticed a numbness in my right arm. I just thought that it was a bit of pins and needles from lying on it.
“And then when I went to get out of bed, I realised that my whole leg on the same side was also totally numb and I just went crashing into the ground.”
Roger was rushed to hospital, where he was told that he had suffered a stroke – a potentially life-changing or fatal disruption in the blood supply to the brain.
“It was really frightening at the time.
“The doctors were not able to tell me what the future might hold, I had no idea if I would walk again or be able to use my right arm.”
But luckily Roger was able to regain full mobility.
“I call it my stroke of luck – before it happened I was under a lot of stress. But after I got ill, it made me sit up and take a good look at my life and think about what really matters.
“It made me reassess my priorities and change my lifestyle.”
Roger, who works part time at the Swindon branch of Cotswold Outdoors, will be joined by 26-year-old work colleague Sam Davies, an experienced activity instructor and Mick Lonergan, a former paratrooper and fireman who asked to join the project after finding out about it from the Cotswold Outdoors summer catalogue.
The trio plan to set off from Canterbury in Kent and will be blogging about their experience at www.sole2soul.rocks
They will be raising money along the way for the Crisis homeless charity.
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