I lost a toe in a gardening accident, but now I'm running 20 races for charity

Christopher Liston, aged 33, lives on Lunt Road, Bilston.

Mr Liston has been on the road to recovery for the past four years, after a gardening accident meant he injured his right foot.

Mr Liston said: "I was in my garden, which is sloped, when I fell and my right food caught under the lawn mower. As I fell, the mower came with me and consequently I lost part of my big toe, smashed my second toe, lost my third toe completely, and broke my remaining toes."

At the same time, Mr Liston's mother, Christine Liston, aged 67 of Smethwick, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Mr Liston said: "I had been planning to move in with mom when she was diagnosed to help look after her, but after my accident, it ended up with her looking after me."

Now, Mr Liston is planning to run 20 races. He started with the Sandwell Valley Santa Dash which took place on December 10 this year. He will end his series of runs with the New York marathon on November 5 next year.

Mr Liston said: "I had been looking to sign up to the New York marathon when the accident happened. But since recovering, and since my mom's recovery from cancer, I decided to do all the other runs to raise money for Macmillan nurses.

"The nurses really helped mom from the beginning, holding her hand straight after diagnosis to helping her choose a wig when her hair started falling out.

"This is my way of saying thank you not just to mom for helping me when I should have been helping her, but also to Macmillan for being there for mom.

"I hope to raise £4,500 for them, but fingers crossed it'll be even more than that by the time I'm done!"

The next races Mr Liston will run will be the Great Edinburgh Winter Run, the Burton 'Xtreme Challenge, the Shrewsbury 10K, London Zoo Stampede, the Great Birmingham 10K run, the D.K. 10k evening race in Dudley, the Liverpool Spring 10K, the Clissold Park evening 5K run, the Compton Hospice Colour Blast, the Great Newham Run, Blackpool Illuminations 10K, Wolverhampton Half Marathon, the Great North Run, Bristol Half Marathon, the Royal Park Half Marathon, Birmingham Half Marathon, the Great South Run, Snowdonia Marathon and finally the New York Marathon.

Mr Liston would like to thank Greenhouse Car Dealers, based in Shropshire for their support.

To find out more about Mr Liston's fundraising, visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mybigapplechallenge2017, www.mybigapplechallenge.webs.com, www.facebook.com/myNYMarathon17/.