'I could do nothing but concentrate on the pain'

But not only is the 39-year-old fit and well – he has just returned from a gruelling fundraising challenge to walk the 82 miles of the Dales Way, in only four days.

Remarkable when you consider that one year ago, the self-confessed “average guy” from Harrogate was not expected to make it through the night.

Lee’s story began with a headache, but a headache where the pain went way beyond anything he had experienced before. He had been getting increasingly painful headaches over the previous few weeks, but the one that struck him on that Friday night one year ago made every sound or light “seem like Armageddon”.

Although he didn’t realise it at the time, Lee had suffered a series of brain aneurysms and the latest one, as he describes it, set him on his “longest journey”.

“First I went to Harrogate Hospital where they did some tests and decided they needed to bring in the big guns, so back in the ambulance to Leeds General Infirmary,” he said.

“I was rushed to the neuro high dependency unit, where a fantastic team of doctors and nurses were waiting for me. I’d had a brain haemorrhage; it wasn’t really clear how I’d managed to survive the six or seven others, or whether I would still be alive in the morning.

“I didn’t care, I would have gladly chosen death over the pain, but my wife, my family, my friends – they cared.

“I could do nothing but concentrate on getting through the pain. It was more frightening for those around me; I was concentrating on getting through.”

It was that night Lee’s, wife, Rachel, was given the grim warning from doctors that her husband may not survive until the morning.

Looking back on the time, she said: “He was very very closed in on himself and he couldn’t speak to us. He was just at home and we thought he had a migraine but when he was in hospital, all they could give him was paracetemol, and it wouldn’t touch the pain.

“The worst part for me was when he said: ‘I’m sorry if I die but I just can’t take this pain’.”

She said after being given Lee’s prognosis from his doctors, she remembers crying in the lift at LGI. Another person was in the lift with her, who was also crying, but the two never spoke and Rachel said she often wonders what happened to that person, because in Rachel’s case, the news turned out to be good.

Lee said: “I was fortunate; I made it through that night, with my wife beside me, her family in turn supporting us both, and friends who rallied round.

“Miraculously I was made well; the skilled surgeons put coils and stents into my brain, and though I wasn’t out of the woods, there was definitely a clearing in the trees.”

An aneurysm is a bulging in the walls of a blood vessel where the tissue is thinner that the rest of the artery.

In some cases, such as Lee’s, the blood vessel can rupture, causing a potentially lethal haemorrhage.

With brain haemorrhages, the cavity between the brain and the skull can damage the brain, leading to a stroke and even death.

Once an aneurysm has ruptured, it is a race against time for doctors to stop the bleeding and reduce the risk of permanent damage to the patient.

The delicate procedure of coiling which was carried out on Lee, involves surgeons filing the aneurysm with a fine platinum wire, stopping blood from entering and therefore preventing a rupture.

Lee has since found out the condition which struck him down was hereditary and could have happened at any time.

Medics are keeping an eye on his condition but he is now hopeful the aneurysm will not return.

He said: “All through my illness and my recuperation (which took a while, but was really an amazing journey itself) our family relied on the support, help and care of others. And now I want to celebrate life and my ability to live it, and to do something to show how glad, grateful and humbled I am by people.”

Lee’s trek along the Dales Way has so far raised £1,881 for the Dove Trust, a charity which promotes smaller fundraising organisations and charites; you can help by visiting his web page at charitygiving.co.uk/leeby

The most common age to suffer a brain aneurysm is between 35 and 60, and women are more susceptible then men.

6 symptoms of a brain aneurysm

· Nausea and vomiting.

· Stiff neck or neck pain.

· Blurred vision or double vision.

· Pain above and behind the eye.

· Dilated pupils.

· Sensitivity to light.

· Loss of sensation.