A 74-YEAR-OLD completed a three-mile charity bike race just a year after a leg bypass operation.

Andy Morris says it’s thanks to the Hampshire NHS, who he ‘can’t praise enough’ after he lost all feeling in his left leg.

In 2016, the Test Valley resident had been training hard to compete in the George Skeates Stockbridge Charity Race, until suddenly a serious medical issue arose.

Mr Morris said: “I went shopping the day after Boxing Day and I had a dreadful pain in my left calf.”

“It was intense, so I phoned 999.

“My foot was going cold and I had no feeling in my lower leg.”

He praised the paramedics who responded, saying they were ‘very good’.

After being taken to hospital in Winchester, he was then transferred to Southampton General Hospital to receive treatment on the injury.

Mr Morris said: “They told me it was an aneurysm behind my left knee.

“They did a bypass, which is a bit technical. I was impressed by the staff at Southampton and their interest in caring. Considering it was in the holiday period, I can’t praise them enough.

“When I was in hospital 20 years ago, it wasn’t good to be honest. The sisters were frightening.

“But now, there’s a happy team of nurses. there was no sense of panic and a great sense of warmth and caring.”

A leg bypass is where the blood supply is rerouted around a blocked artery in the leg. After recovering from the successful operation, Mr Morris quickly began training for the cycling race, determined to take part in what would be his seventh appearance at the event.

He said: “George Skeates, who used to be a sidecar racer, had a crash.

“He broke his neck and was in a wheel chair thereafter.

“When I was 19 a lorry ran me off the road and I broke my neck, fractured my skull and got gang green in my leg.

“But I got over it, and the poor guy in the wheelchair didn’t. So that gave me motivation to do it.”

Although nervous about the level of recovery he made, Mr Morris took part in the charity event on Sunday, 14 January.

He treated himself to a new road bike but felt nervous about the day.

He said: “My goal was to come back and do it in 14 minutes, which I did.

“A day or two afterwards, I had a great sense of achievement and a great sense of relief because, had they not operated the way that they did, I would have lost half of my leg. If my story inspires just one person to get up and do something, whatever it is, then that’s ok.”