An army veteran who has begun to walk again without support after a spinal injury left him housebound is planning to walk 28 miles for charity.

Mark Williams, who lives in Stevenage, served in the army for 16 years, and spent 10 years housebound due to a debilitating spinal injury. 

His recovery was further set back when he suffered from sepsis in 2022.

Despite these challenges, Mark has made remarkable progress with his recovery and rehabilitation, recently starting to walk again without the use of walking aids.

He is now planning to raise money for the UK military veterans' charity Walking with the Wounded by taking part in their Walking Home campaign. 

Mark intends to cover 28 miles between December 15 and 22, walking for four hours each day.

He hopes to inspire others facing similar challenges, and raise vital funds to support veterans and their families through Walking with the Wounded's mental health, care coordination and employment programmes.

Mark said: "I spent 16 years in the army, so it is a cause close to my heart.

"I suffer from a spine injury, and then in 2022 I had sepsis, which made things even more difficult, but since then I’ve been motivated to do my best to rehabilitate myself.

"Through doing so, I’ve recently started to be able to walk again without walking aids, so now I want to take on this challenge to help others mentally and physically.

"I will be doing two laps daily of the old training loop I used when training for the army, carrying an extra weight of 5kg for the first lap each day.

"It won’t be easy, as parts of the route are quite steep, but for some of the challenge I will also be joined by some friends, veterans, Royal Marines, Royal Anglian, ex-Guardsmen, and anyone else who would like to join."

If you would like to sponsor Mark, visit walking-home.walkingwiththewounded.org.uk/users/mark-williams.

If you would take part in the Walking Home challenge yourself, visit walking-home.walkingwiththewounded.org.uk to sign up.