A big year for a little fella...
Following an almost fatal ectopic pregnancy suffered by his wife, Sian, the 31-year-old Newbury man challenged himself to try something different every day for a year in order to raise money and awareness for a charity supporting those affected by the condition.
He’s climbed walls, sailed waters, bouldered, cuddled a piglet and even cowered beneath the largest swarm of bats on the planet, all in aid of the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust - and all while holding down a full-time job as an engineer at National Instruments Corporation, Newbury Business Park.
Complications of ectopic pregnancies can end chances of conceiving or even kill expectant mothers.
“I would give anything to have avoided that fateful day. Sadly, that is not possible,” he said.
“But I am willing to do just about anything to raise awareness and funding for this fantastic charity.
“It all started while a little bit tipsy in London on New Year’s Eve, I kissed my wife and thought it was something I had never experienced before - kissing a wife at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, so that was the catalyst for the next year.
“I have been reliant on help from friends and buddies for inspiration, it’s hard work coming up with new ideas.
“You can imagine every now and then I get home from work I just want to park myself down in front of the TV or grab a can of beer, but I’m not getting those options, I have to think of something and get it done and get it blogged. It’s been a lot of graft.”
He has even tackled his two biggest fears, heights and spiders, quite literally head on.
“When I went rock climbing and abseiling over the O2 I found that terrifying, but it was cathartic too.
“I have a friend who lives in Essex who keeps lots of really strange animals which she takes to schools, I have agreed to handle a tarantula and specifically have it walk over my face. I’ll tick it off, but I am dreading it.”
Another hair-raising experience was getting into a ring with a heavyweight wrester.
“I’m short and slight; this guy towered over me, that was scary. I was pretty badly bruised the next day, but in all honesty it’s been great to grab new opportunities,” he said.
“One of the positives beside the charity work is I have found in the week I don’t do a great deal, you can get stuck in a rut so it forces me to make more of an effort to do things. I have not said “no” to pretty much any offer that has come my way, and it’s probably the first time I have ever kept a New Year’s resolution!”
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