Members of staff at Newmarket Tesco's, have raised over £1,000 for a ward at West Suffolk Hospital after a colleague suffered a stroke last year.

Six members of staff from the store ran a half marathon to raise money for the G8 stroke ward at the Hospital where staff looked after their colleague Mark Davy.

George Carter, Luke Milner, Mark Masterton, Andrew Robertson, Connor Stanley and Louise Baron initially set a target of £500 but ended up raising more than double with £1,070 handed over to the My WiSH charity which supports the work of the hospital.

East Anglian Daily Times: Mr Davy was cared for at West Suffolk HospitalMr Davy was cared for at West Suffolk Hospital (Image: Archant)

Mr Carter said: “We did not expect to get that much money but we were thrilled as Mark had had a tough time.

“It was out of the blue really, he had the stroke and lost the movement on his left side.

“Everyone did it in under three hours with one doing it in under two hours and two more just over the two-hour mark.

“We stayed together for the first 10k and we all had our own targets that we wanted to get to but it started chucking it down with rain towards the end of it.”

Mr Davy who spent four and a half weeks on the stroke ward after he lost movement in his left arm and left leg, said: “I was out and about during the day and I stayed up a bit late but when I went to bed at about midnight it all started and the room started spinning.

"I had to bang on the wall to get attention from my dad who called the paramedics.

“All the nurses and staff at the hospital were brilliant along with the physios and I was determined to walk out of the hospital unaided.

“I am starting to walk a bit and try and walk every day between three and four miles and go to see the physios for two hours a week.”

The 31-year-old paid his thanks to his six workmates who carried out the fundraising initiative along with all the staff on the stroke ward and is hoping to make a return to work by the end of June.