A DAD-of-two is set to run eight marathons in eight days across East and North Yorkshire for charity after surviving just a 7 per-cent chance of survival.

Neil Rhodes, 63, has completed 17 ultra-marathons since he nearly died of a bran haemmorhage in 2003.

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The personal trainer was practising on a rowing rowing machine just three days before the World Indoor Rowing Championship when he collapsed and was rushed to hospital.

Doctors discovered a "berry" aneurysm in his middle cerebral artery had burst due to, what doctors called, a "ticking time bomb" weakness which had been there since he was born.

Neil underwent an eight-and-a-half-hour operation to save his life, but doctors gave him just a seven per cent chance of survival.

He woke up from a coma a week later with no side effects other than a headache, and was discharged just 10 days later.

Mr Rhodes said: "At the time of my brain haemorrhage I was probably one of the fittest 45-year-olds in the UK.

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“I had no risk factors or indication whatsoever of the ticking time bomb inside me."

You can donate to Neil's fundraiser here.

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