Lyneham men to help the heroes
Gazette and Herald
www.gazetteandherald.co.uk
26th March 2009
Three RAF servicemen are warming up to run a marathon at 13 different military bases. Flight Lieutenant Steve Hawkins, Chief Technician Carl Rice and Senior Aircraftman Paul Leggett will cover a total of 26 miles at the 13 RAF bases in two days.

They are aiming to raise money for charity Help For Heroes and will start off from RAF Lyneham where they are based. Their efforts will equate to a half marathon every day and they will pass through about nine counties. The runners will complete 2 miles at each location, visiting seven stations on Tuesday 28th April and 6 stations on Wednesday 29th April, starting at RAF Lyneham and finishing at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Headley Court.

Steve Hawkins, 36, of Cheltenham, said: “The idea for the fundraising challenge came about last summer when I was involved with the repatriation of a particular soldier from Afghanistan. I was aware that in the very incident in which he was sadly killed, several others had been seriously injured.

“The press often focus upon those who have been killed on operation in Iraq and Afghanistan but there is very little written about those who are injured. It is wrong to ignore these brave men and women, many of whom will never have their career or life back as they once knew it. I wanted to do what I could to assist with their rehabilitation.”

Steve’s comrade Paul Legget is currently serving in Afghanistan but is due to return from his posting next week in plenty time for the April 28 start.

The trio’s adventure will end at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre in Surrey, which they hope to raise funds for. They have already raised £3,000.

Headley Court is situated close to Epsom Racecourse. The Peter Long unit is an inpatient care facility split between two wards offering 66 inpatient beds to injured service personnel from all service disciplines under going rehabilitation at DMRC Headley Court. The wards offer 20 neurological inpatient beds for patients of varying levels of dependency following Acquired Brain injury, spinal cord injury, and other neurological disease. 

A further 46 beds are available for poly trauma and medical patients. The ward houses individuals requiring any physical and/or psychological nursing support due to their injuries or pre-existing medical conditions, and offers assistance to those individuals who are unable to manage independently in mess accommodation due to the nature of their medical needs and abilities.

There are 4 single bedded side wards for the more disabled patient and 2 and 4 bedded co-hort nursing bays for infection prevention and control purposes. Individuals are cared for over a 24hr period as appropriate by a team of tri-service and civilian health care professionals (Bands 2-6). Specialist equipment is available on the ward to meet the nursing needs of the more dependent patient including shower/bathing hoists and aids, hydrotherapy bathing equipment, enteral feeding equipment, bladder scanning etc.

The nursing staff also provide 24hr emergency medical cover for the unit as well as primary care services including health promotion, observation monitoring, blood taking and a dietetic and chiropody service. The unit also provides specialist nursing support and advice regarding spinal injury, continence, sexual dysfunction, management of amputations, multiple sclerosis and RMHN support, including cognitive therapy, councilling and pschological support.

Carl Rice, 38, from Swindon, said: “We are aiming to help by providing funds to improve the facilities at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court through Help For Heroes.”

Their trip will see them running two miles at RAF Brize Norton, RAF Wittering, RAF Waddingthon, and RAF Halton, among others.

As well as covering 26 miles on foot, they will travel 535 miles by car to get to the RAF stations.

Steve, Carl and Paul will be driven 535 miles by Brian Marrison from Bakers Garage in Lyneham who have also donated the use of a car; the fuel for which has been donated by Frankhams Motor Services, also of Lyneham.  The promotional T-shirts and all advertising has been provided by Busy Bees of Wootton Bassett.

You can sponsor Steve, Carl and Paul by visiting their online fundraising page on www.justgiving.com/militarybasemarathon. 

You can pay by credit or debit card, and the money will go directly to The Help 4 Heroes Charity.  Where supporters are UK taxpayers, the charity will automatically receive 28% extra in Gift Aid, which makes Justgiving the most efficient way of
sponsoring them in this worthwhile quest.