After miraculously surviving a horrific road crash at the start of the year, Josh Taylor has set his sights on running the thirteen-and-a-half mile Great North Run.
He broke all the ribs on his left-hand side and suffered a broken vertebra in his neck and a punctured lung, when his car plunged off the road into a ditch after skidding on black ice nearRudston in January.
His life was in the balance as he was rushed to Scarborough Hospital and then transferred to the intensive care unit at Hull Royal Infirmary.
After further treatment at Castle Hill Hospital, he was eventually fit enough to be allowed home three weeks later and despite his extensive injuries his mind turned back to his love of running.
Josh already had an allocated place in the Great North Run carried over from last year’s cancelled race, and decided he would fight hard to be in a position to complete the re-scheduled event and raise money for the NHS Charities Together.
Just 10 weeks after the accident, Josh had his neck brace removed, and by the end of March he was running again, completing a Virtual 5km Parkrun and clocking up an even longer distance during a challenge organised by Bridlington Road Runners.
His recovery was progressing so well, Josh was back in his role as the club’s juniors coach when the lockdown restrictions were lifted and training sessions resumed recently.
“If it hadn’t been for the amazing work that the ambulance service, A&E team, ICU team andcardiothoracic team did, then it’s fact that I wouldn’t be here today,” said Josh.
“As a result of this, I want to do something to give something back to the people who saved me. I am a long-distance runner anyway, although the accident has made this a much tougher challenge.”
The next step in his long road to recovery is getting back to work as a refuse collector for East Riding of Yorkshire Council, which he hopes to be able to do in just a few weeks.
Then his focus will shift on to training for one of the world’s most famous half-marathons, the Great North Run, which heads from Newcastle to South Shields, on Sunday, September 12.
Josh said: “In September, I am going to take part in the Great North Run. Although I can’t guarantee I will be running all the way round, I will be completing the full course somehow to raise money for the NHS as a thank you for all they did for me.”
He is hoping to raise £1,000 for NHS Charities Together and has set up an online fundraising page at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/joshua-taylor15
