A WYTHALL man is gearing up to take on a 100-mile cycling challenge to raise funds for the hospital that twice saved the life of his wife.

Leigh Ganderton, 42, will take part in the 100-mile Velo Birmingham, the first closed-road cycling race in the area, on September 24, to raise funds for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The hospital has given lifesaving treatment to his wife Victoria on two occasions.

In 2008, the 37-year-old was diagnosed with an aortic dissection – a tear in the wall of the body’s major blood vessel - when she was 36 weeks pregnant.

Doctors had to act quickly. Fifty per cent of patients die before making it to hospital and of those who do make it to hospital, half will not recover.

She was immediately taken off for an emergency caesarean to deliver her son Jack and had follow-up surgery in 2013 and final open-heart surgery in 2014

Yet during the course of this operation, Victoria’s kidneys failed, her lungs went into respiratory shock, she contracted pneumonia and her heart began to fail.

Her life was saved again thanks to the ECMO machine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which performs the role of the heart and lungs in order to keep the patient alive.

Victoria, who spent a month in a coma and 56 nights in intensive care, said: “There is nowhere in the world where such care and compassion is shown by all staff, from surgeons to nurses to porters and cleaners.

“They never failed to greet me with a smile and bring a little light to my days.”

Leigh, a serious injury lawyer with Wolverhampton firm FBC Manby Bowdler, aims to raise more than £3,000 for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity as a way of thanks.

He said: “I’m really looking forward to cycling for charity and raising money to support the amazing research and work that goes on at the hospital.

“The care that they gave Victoria was nothing short of incredible and it’s really nice to give something back.”

Leigh will be joined on the challenge by England cricketing legend Ashley Giles, whose own wife also received life-saving treatment at the hospital.

Ashley is also sports director of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, where FBC Manby Bowdler is the official legal partner.