BRIDEGROOM Matt Slee has decided to forego a traditional stag do with his friends and will be walking 87 miles for a good cause instead.

Two years ago the 38-year-old, from High Street, Corsham, was taken seriously ill and rushed to Southmead Hospital in Bristol where doctors told him his kidneys had stopped working.

He was diagnosed with atypical Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome (aHUS), a rare and life-threatening condition in which the immune system starts attacking vital organs.

The illness only affects around 200 people in the UK. He spent a month in hospital and was on dialysis for around six months. He was also given a ‘wonder drug’ called Eculizumab that helped his kidneys function again.

Now on the road to recovery Mr Slee, a teacher at Monkton Park Primary School in Chippenham, wants to give something back to the charity which carried out the research into the drug on which he depends.

He is planning to spend his stag do at the end of this month walking 20 miles of the Ridgeway a day, passing through the North Wessex Downs and Chilterns from Avebury in Wiltshire to Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire.

Ten of his friends will be joining him, some who he went to university with, and he wants to raise £1,000 for charity Kidney Research UK before his wedding to fiancée Esther Swanson at St Bartholomew’s Church on August 1.

Mr Slee said: “As part of my recovery I’ve been doing lots of walking and over the last couple of years I slowly built up my stamina and I can go long distances, so I thought I would set a challenge for myself and friends.

“When you get to my age you've been there and done the boozy nights out, so they welcomed the challenge and it has inspired them to get fit. I’m looking forward to some male bonding while we walk over the four days.”

He added: “We will be shattered by the end but we will raise a glass and have a couple of celebratory drinks before heading home.”

To donate go to: justgiving.com/Matt-Slee