A leading surgeon has set himself a six figure challenge for charity.
Chris Eden, a consultant urologist at BMI The Hampshire Clinic in Old Basing, wants to raise £1m for Transplant Links.
The charity helps people in the developing world who suffer from kidney disease by carrying out transplants.
Mr Eden said: “It is important to help these organisations because without organ transplants or access to expensive dialysis machines, patients have a death sentence.
“Life is very different in poor countries, and raising this money helps people less well off than us. It is a chance to make a real difference to someone’s life.”
A veteran of three marathons, the surgeon will put his limbs to the test running the Paris Marathon on April 10 next year.
He told the Basingstoke Observer that he promised himself – after hitting the 16 mile mark during his other marathon challenges - that he would never run the marathon again.
But with the support of his wife and five children he hopes he can clock in again next year at the four hour mark and with a large amount of cash for charity to boot.
He said: “I thought that I’d better run another marathon to remind myself the reasons of why I stopped.
“My children think I am slightly potty really but are fully behind it.”
The 48-year-old said the fundraising goal he set is more of a challenge than the 26-mile race.
He said: “I don’t know if it is feasible, but if you don’t try then you will never know and I am not scared about trying to raise as much money as I can.
“What I would like to do is to raise awareness and get at least one in 60 people in the country to part with a pound, then we can get to £1m.”
Since taking part in the New York, London and Berlin marathons, the Odiham resident has managed to raise £80,000 cash for cancer charities.
He has already started training for next year’s challenge, but admits it is a struggle balancing work with exercise.
He said: “It is very difficult, the challenge of doing the miles is nothing like finding the time to run.
“However, when you have told enough people what you are going to do 26 miles the challenge is getting yourself prepared enough to get to the start line. Even if you have done the training, it is not a walk in the park.”
To follow Chris’ six figure challenge, or make a donartion, visit www.justgiving.com/chriseden
