A PRIMARY school teacher has succeeded in fulfilling his promise to repay the people who saved his life and is on course to raise £4,500 for Devon Air Ambulance.
Matthew Tooke's courageous and challenging cycle ride took place just one year on from a horrific car crash.
The 23-year-old Mount Charles Primary School teacher was seriously injured and airlifted by Devon Air Ambulance, to Derriford Hospital, Plymouth.
The accident happened last May as Mr Tooke drove from St Austell to his home in St Cleer.
He spent a week in intensive care in an induced coma, with a blood clot on the brain.
A broken femur was mended with an operation to insert a titanium rod in his leg.
Mr Tooke said it was the air ambulance which saved his life and made a pledge from his hospital bed to raise £3,300 for the charity, the average amount needed for Devon Air Ambulance to pick a patient up and transport them.
A fortnight ago today Mr Tooke completed a five-day, 500km ride (310 miles) around the border of Devon for charity.
Mr Tooke, who set off from the Devon Air Ambulance Trust's helipad at Exeter, finished at the charity's headquarters in the city.
The ride had started emotionally when he met one of the air ambulance crew who treated him.
The teacher and his friend Chris Featherstone cycled through some horrendous weather and over some arduous terrain.
"There was a point where if I had been on my own I would have given up and started from the next point but Chris, my family and my fiancée Sian kept me going."
He was also buoyed by the "amazing" messages of support from friends and colleagues across the country while all the pounds pledged were an added incentive to keep him pedalling.
"I think we shall get to £4,500 which is really amazing," he said.
"People's support for me has been incredible and my thanks are really not enough."
There is still an opportunity to sponsor Mr Tooke by visiting the website www.justgiving.com/mtooke500in5
