A MAN who lost his wife and broke 30 bones in his body as the result of a car crash has helped to raise £25,000 in four years for his hometown hospice.

Phil Holbrook, who suffered 20 broken ribs, six breaks to his pelvis, shoulder blade and collar bone fractures, a severed coccyx, broken bones in his left arm, two spinal breaks and nerve damage to his left side, has become a regular at Hartlepool's parkrun and raised the money for Alice House Hospice.

Doctors feared he would never walk again, let alone get back to pounding the streets running, and in the weeks after the crash he could only communicate by squeezing the hands of friends, family and medics.

He said: “When I left hospital, medical experts insisted that I go home with two crutches and a wheelchair! With the continuing love and support of many people – and they all know who they are – I have got to a place that, quite frankly, I never thought that I would reach."

With the Great North Run place confirmed for this year, Phil and his friends under the banner of Team Sally Holbrook aim to top last year’s fund-raising amount of £5,050.50 all in aid of the Hartlepool & District Hospice.

He said: “Getting back running was always a target even when I was lying in bed but how realistic that was I didn’t know.

“But I just decided that I had to fight. I knew my life was going to be so different but you just have to adapt. I don’t have the same life, but I have a life.

“There’s not a day that goes by when I didn’t think of Sally, but I could either crumble or get on. I decided to get on.

“Running has been so important for me and there’s a great camaraderie amongst my group of friends and colleagues who run with me.

“Sally was a big supporter of the Hartlepool Hospice and we hope to keep her memory alive by helping such a worthy cause.’’

He completed last week’s Hartlepool parkrun with his regular running friends, including Paul Smith – who he joined days earlier in running 30 miles around a centre circle of a football pitch in aid of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.

To donate to Team Sally Holbrook visit gnr15.everydayhero.com/uk/teamsallyholbrook