Tony Lawrence has two good reasons to be taking part in a couple of half marathons later this year.

One is to help raise money for the My WiSH Charity, which supports the West Suffolk Hospital, and the other is to try and improve his health, fitness and lifestyle.

The 25-year-old traffic operator, who works for a logistics firm in Little Saxham, is all set to take part in the Great North Run, in Newcastle, in September … and a week later the Great East Run, in Ipswich.

And he is aiming to raise money for the charity with funds targeted at the intensive care unit at the Bury St Edmunds hospital.

Tony, who lives in Deck Walk, on the town’s Howard Estate, said he is doing the runs for the charity for the great care they provided for his father Malcolm.

In October last year his father was taken to the West Suffolk where he was treated for pneumonia. He was put into an induced coma and when he finally woke up there were hopes things would improve.

Unfortunately after a few hours he suffered a heart attack and sadly passed away. He was 68 years old.

Tony said: “Since this time I have felt passionate about raising money for the hospital as I am thankful for the way in which they cared for my dad and supported my family through this difficult time. The care they provided was compassionate and thorough and the hospital staff were brilliant and I wanted to give something back to them.

“I have also since become motivated to lead a healthier lifestyle and become more active so I have taken on the challenge to complete two half marathons a week apart from each other.

“I’ve never done anything like this before but I am dedicated to proving I can do this and am keen to make a donation to the hospital to contribute to enabling them to continue with the fantastic work they achieve on a daily basis.

“I applied for both events on a bit of a whim thinking if I did not get accepted for one of them I would for the other. This will be a first for me and I wanted to do something to show that I have achieved something and I wanted to try and get a bit fitter.”

Tony has set up a website for people to donate to his charity and it can be accessed at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/t-lawrence1