Roger Skinner, CEO of Maxxia, is dusting off his running shoes in a bid to raise £10,000 for three specialist heart hospitals.

The fund-raising challenge, which includes participating in two forthcoming half-marathons, is his way of saying a big ’thank you’ to the three hospitals for their outstanding health care, following a life-saving heart transplant operation for wife, Deborah, earlier this year.

The three hospitals involved, the Royal Free, The Royal Brompton and the Harefield Heart Transplant Unit, are set to benefit from the proceeds of a number of fund-raising activities behind the ‘Do it for Debs’ campaign, which have been organised by Skinner’s stepson, Tom.

“Will this be a challenge – you bet!” said Skinner, head of the Maxxia Group which includes fleet management specialist, CLM. “I’ve not run this distance for over 25 years when I probably weighed in at 80kg.

“Now, I’m over 100kg and it is many years later, with only a limited practice time since I signed up. So, in all honesty, I am just looking to finish in one piece,” he said.

“We have set an ambitious target of £10,000.00 from our various fund raising activities, and would welcome any donation of any size in support of this very worthy cause and the wonderful work these world-class hospitals do.

“There is a possibility that your organisation may consider this fund raising activity as a worthy charity for your own organisation for 2014/2015, and this would, of course, be great and would help us to achieve our target.

“Thank you for your time and many thanks in advance for your support!” he added.

To date over £3,000 has been raised from generous donations by friends and colleagues.

Anyone who is interested in making a donation to the fund-raising efforts in support of the three hospitals and the ‘Do it for Debs’ campaign can do so here.