A Norwich man who nearly died of meningitis when he was a university student will be running his first marathon later this month to raise money for the Meningitis Research Foundation (MRF).

Josh Benham, right, from Cringleford, was 18-years-old when he contracted meningococcal septicaemia.

The 34-year-old made a full recovery from the serious illness, and is now taking on the challenge of this year's Virgin London Marathon with his best friend, who ran it last year in support of MRF, and will be running again this year with an ambitious target of 100,000. 'Meningitis nearly killed me when I was 18. My best friend Nigel rushed to be at my bedside then and was hugely supportive, and ran the marathon for MRF last year, so I thought I'd better help. So this year I will be running it with him', he said.

Chris Head, chief executive of MRF, said: 'We are extremely grateful to Josh for his fantastic efforts as we rely on voluntary donations to fund our vital work into the prevention, detection and treatment of meningitis and septicaemia.

'Every bit of support enables us to continue our work.'

To sponsor Mr Benham go to www.justgiving.com/Josh-Benham or for more on MRF visit www.meningitis.org