Great cause, well worth a look;
Insurance company director James McComish is in training to run a marathon for the Poole and Bournemouth Intensive Care Unit that saved his life. James, who is managing director of McComish Insurance Brokers, part of the Ringwood-based A-One Insurance Group, became extremely ill with Covid in October 2021 and was put on a ventilator with his life hanging in the balance.
“When the doctors told me that was the only option and there was no guarantee I would wake up that left me having the hardest conversation in my life with my family.”
While his recovery has been slow and steady, James is determined to do something to help shine a light on the work of the hospital ICU that saved his life.
“Every week you are on a ventilator you lose 20 per cent muscle mass. I lost 3 and a half stone and my legs were literally half the size and had no strength whatsoever. I couldn’t even put enough pressure on my phone to unlock the key pad,” said James, who is now back at work. I also found that despite being quite fit and healthy three weeks before and running 10 miles without a problem, I found I could just about stand up let alone walk. Every action that we take for granted whether it was standing to brush your teeth or even going to the toilet was a mammoth effort.
“They do say that recovery is 90 per cent mental and I have to agree. I was determined that this wasn’t going to beat me and every day kept pushing myself to push that little bit further than the day before. With that will power it meant I was allowed out of hospital weeks before they expected and by mid December was able to walk several miles whereas the expectation by that point was to just about get out of the house.
“Since March I have been trying to run a couple of times a week and slowly continue to build.”
LOOKING FOR SUPPORT
James is planning to run the Virtual London Marathon on the 23rd April 2023. He has planned a route starting at Poole Hospital, running past Christchurch Hospital and finishing at Bournemouth Hospital. Colleagues at the A-One Insurance Group are backing James’ marathon effort and some staff have said they will join him on some of the legs of the run.
“I want to do what I can for the hospital ICU because they worked so hard to keep me alive and I am only able to do this today because of them,” added James.
If anyone wants to support or sponsor James for his marathon they can do so through his Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/james-mccomish
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