A GREAT Western Hospital worker went the extra mile in a bid to support dementia patients and their carers.

Deputy head of information Tom Frost cycled every day throughout February to raise money for the Dementia Appeal, launched by hospital charity Brighter Futures.

Tom, who has raised £1,611, said: “I have worked at GWH for 18 months and I wanted to do this because dementia is becoming more and more common as more of us make it to older ages and most of us know or have known someone with dementia – in my case my gran. 

“I think anything that can be done to make a hospital stay less frightening for people with dementia is incredibly worthwhile and even if it won’t directly benefit mygran knowing that others in her situation are being provided with every possible aid to make their stay at GWH more comfortable will be very gratifying.”

He added: “I’m so impressed by how everyone in the hospital has pulled together during the last year.

“And I wanted to do something to improve my fitness. I do some running, cycling, and swimming but it’s been hard during the lockdown to find the motivation.

“So combining something to keep me fit and raise money seemed to be a really good idea.”

Tom used a smart cycle trainer in his garage and every day cycled 4k more than the previous one. He started with 4k on February 1 and finishing on 112k on Sunday.

This added up to a total of 1,624k during the month, of which 700k was completed in the final week.

He said: “I realised by increasing by 4k, it was hard, but it was achievable.

“On the last kilometre, I felt good, it was nice to know that it was coming to an end and have a bit of adrenaline for getting to the finish line.

“The last week doing 100k every day was a hard slog and physically sort of tiring.”

The 47-year-old used an app called Zwift to help him complete the challenge.

He said: “It’s a virtual app that you can put on a screen in front of you and you can cycle in all different places and you can meet up with friends and do the same ride.

“Some of my friends met me on various rides and I was able to ride with them, you can talk over WhatsApp. That was really good.”

Tom originally set up a target of £1,000. 

He said: “I first thought it might be a lot because there are a lot of people doing lots of different challenges at the moment. I was amazed I reached that very early on and then we set it to £1,500 and I was really pleased that we reached it over the weekend.”

The money raised will be used to replace clocks around the hospital with dementia-friendly versions and to buy a Reminiscence interactive Therapy Activities machine.

Community and events fundraising manager Michelle Leighton said: “We were absolutely delighted with the amount of money Tom Frost has made for our dementia appeal. Tom set himself a really tough challenge. We think this is absolutely phenomenal and think he has achieved something very special and he will make a huge difference to the lives of our dementia patients, their carers, and our staff.

She added: “We are always very grateful for the support of people like Tom. The time and effort they engage in their challenges and the money they raise really makes a difference to our patients and staff at Great Western Hospital.

“It has been a very tough time for all charities in the past year and we have really relied on the support of our local fundraisers and are always blown away with the unique ways they have come up with to raise money for us.”