Canoeist raises £12,000

3:25pm Wednesday 26th March 2008

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AFTER 27 hours and 35 minutes injured soldier Maj David Bradley of Tidworth completed the Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race and in doing so raised over £12,000 for Help for Heroes.

Help for Heroes is a charity that provides practical direct support to servicemen and women wounded in the line of duty in the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Its first aim is to raise £6 million to build a swimming pool and new gym complex at Headley Court, the tri-service rehabilitation centre in Surrey,David Bradley, aged 39, of the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment, and his team mate, ex-serviceman Steve Vinall, aged 37, of Bramley, arrived at Westminster at 7.35pm after leaving Devizes at 4pm the previous day.

David said: "We're tired, exhausted but elated that we've managed to complete this incredible challenge.

"My shoulder and hand got a bit sore but I kept going.

"I'd like to thank our support crew, Cary Craggs, Nick Serle, Shane Willoughby and Declan Sibley, who were brilliant.

"They made sure we had food and water and kept our spirits up.

"I'd also like to thank everyone who sponsored us; I'm delighted that we've raised 12K - it makes everything that we've just been through worthwhile."

In 2004, while rescuing British soldiers cut off in Basra, he was hit by two rocket-propelled grenades and given only a five per cent chance of survival, due to a serious chest injury.

Thanks to the amazing skills of the medical team at the field hospital and in the UK he pulled through but lost the sight in his right eye, part of his right shoulder and part of his right hand.