A LITTLEPORT businessman has said a £4,000 ‘thank you’ to the hospital that helped him to get his life back together.

Father-of-two Jason Miller, who runs coaching company Mil-Ken, was left paralysed after a horrific cycling accident while on holiday in Portugal last year.

But he has battled back with the help of the Princess Royal Spinal Injuries Unit in Sheffield to raise money as a salute to the help they have given him since his accident in October, 2012 – boosted by an £805 donation from his local Anglia Co-operative foodstore in Wisbech Road and the Anglia Co-operative Community Fund (ACCF).

Jason was holidaying with his wife, Kara, and daughters Amber, 16, and Libby, 7, paying a visit to his father, John, in Portugal.

He was out cycling one day and was riding downhill when a car turned in front of him. In the collision that followed he broke his back, most of his ribs and both collarbones and was left paralysed from the chest down.

He was in intensive care in hospital in Lisbon for about three-and-a-half weeks before being flown to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, where he stayed for almost a month before being transferred to the Sheffield spinal unit.

Kara said: “They were fantastic and pushed him along. He’s a very positive person and he asked them in Sheffield how long he would be there. They said probably a minimum of three months and he set himself the target of March 14 to come home – and he came home on the 11th!”

The fundraising started soon after Jason came home at a party for family, friends and Mil-Ken staff – and with the help of the Anglia Co-operative store and a matching donation from ACCF it has now topped £4,000.

Kara added: “Jason was extremely fit at the time of the accident and loved cycling. Now he is cycling again with a hand bike and his goal is to get himself fit enough to complete the Kilo To Go cycle ride from London to Cambridge next July in aid of the spinal unit.

“He remains very positive and he is determined he wants to drive a coach again. We’ve had a coach and a minibus adapted with hand controls and his aim is to start driving again.”