A WILSDEN man will be taking part in a 10-mile hike from Otley to Leeds – 18 months after fearing he may never walk again.

Michael Tune, a big Liverpool FC fan, is recovering from a stroke and has decided to participate in a charity walk with 20 fellow fans from the Leeds branch of the Supporters Club.

“I aim to do as much of the walk as I can,” said Michael, who left the BRI in a wheelchair last February.

“If I can do it all I will, I will see how I get on. It might get to the stage where I can’t walk another metre and I have to call for a taxi. But my wife is going to do it all and the lads I hang around with have said they will do it if I can’t get to the finish.”

The 49-year-old went on holiday to the Canary Islands with a friend and returned with a soar throat, temperature and general aches and pains.

After ringing in sick at work, later that week, the Quality Assurance Consultant for Yorkshire Building Society sat down and suddenly felt his left side give way and his speech slur.

He had recognised the signs as a friend of wife Roz had suffered the same fate a few years earlier.

He said: “While I was waiting for the ambulance my movement came back. I even answered the door to them. But on the way to the hospital, the movement came and went several times, and then at some point that night movement down my left side went and never came back.”

After eight days, Michael left hospital with little movement. He could twitch his finger and thumb and just about shuffle round the bed.

He added: "My granddad suffered a stroke at a similar age back in the seventies and he never really recovered. My fear was I would never get my feeling back and I was thinking ‘I don’t want to be like my granddad’."

A season ticket holder in the Sir Kenny Dalglish stand at Anfield, Michael was determined to see his side lift the Premier League, so his physios designed him a programme aimed at getting him there by the end of April/early May.

Covid put a stop to that but now he is on the mend and back at work after a phased return.

He said: "To start with I could walk a few metres, but I gradually improved through a lot of physio and exercise bike work. My walking has gradually improved and the furthest I have managed so far is four-and-a-half miles. I can’t do it all in one go and I still have real problems with fatigue and stamina, but I have come an awful long way.

"I was gutted to miss the title celebrations after all the hard work I put in but everybody else did too, and it’s not as though all that work was for nothing. At that point, I was just glad I could watch it on the television - and go out for a walk again.”

Michael will leave Otley Market Place on September 4, with the destination The Grove pub in Leeds, to raise funds in aid of the Stroke Association. To sponsor him, go to: www.justgiving.com/team/TeamMichaelTune