Cwmbran runners raises £10,000 for stroke pal (From South Wales Argus)

Cwmbran runners raises £10,000 for stroke pal

8:20am Tuesday 1st December 2009

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FRIENDS of a Cwmbran man left paralysed by a stroke raised £10,000 for him by running 200 miles across Wales.

Rain failed to dampen the runners’ spirits as they finished the relay on Sunday by wheeling Paul Scriven, 32, round Cwmbran Stadium’s running track in front of around 70 spectators.

Mr Scriven, a former teacher at Llantarnam comprehensive school, suffered a major brain stem stroke in January and can now only communicate by pressing buttons on a laptop with his right thumb and blinking.

He and his wife Vicky, 29, have two children, Rubi, four, and Sawyl, one, and he is currently undergoing rehabilitation treatment at Rockwood Hospital in Cardiff.

Eight of his friends, with a support team of three driving their minibus, held the relay to raise money for his treatment and equipment.

They started at the Menai Bridge in Bangor last Friday and each ran five five-mile legs through areas including Blaenau Ffestiniog, Llandrindod Wells, Brecon and Ebbw Vale.

People donated money and cheered them on in the towns they passed through and they stayed in hostels along the way.

The team was made up of former world middleweight boxing champion Gary Lockett, 32, Chris White, 33, Mike Lockey, 30, Dale Albert Tyler, 33, Mark Cross, 33, Andrew Samuel, 30, Tony Dronfield, 43, and David Gabbidon, 33.

Mr Dronfield said: "We’re all friends of Paul’s and it’s been good to do something for him and his family."

The money raised through sponsorship and donations from local businesses has been put into a non-charitable trust fund for Mr Scriven’s family to decide what they want to spend it on.

Anyone who wants to sponsor the team can visit www.give4scriv.org

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