ON a good day he struggles to walk 100 metres on crutches.

But when he hits a low the former Wintonian father-of-three is bed-bound and so riddled with pain he has to take morphine for relief.

Yet this Saturday James Buckley is attempting a Herculean challenge – climbing out of his wheelchair to climb St Catherine’s Hill, Winchester.

He is looking to raise thousands for The Pinder Centre, Avington, whose hydrotherapy pools he says have turned his life around.

The 44-year-old’s world was flipped upside down in an instant eight years ago when doctors told him he had a tumour on his hip the size of his own head.

Surgeons moved quickly to remove his entire pelvis, which meant his leg had to be attached to his hip. The episode has damaged vital nerves, leaving the ex-St Bede and Westgate pupil in severe pain.

The former intensive care nurse said: “I was a bloke who went to work and saved lives.

“Now I’m the bloke that gets up and has to be helped to get into the bath. I can’t even sit at the table with my kids to have a meal.”

Mr Buckley, of Gannet Close, Southampton, has had several life-threatening operations since.

He revealed he hit a low point earlier this year when hydrotherapy – one of the only treatments that relieved his pain – began becoming too expensive.

But he says his life was turned around when he discovered The Pinder Centre, which, as a charity, offered him discounted treatment.

Mr Buckley, a former employee of the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, said: “It’s turned round my life, I can’t believe the impact it has had.

“In April I was a person who was depressed and seriously considering acts of self harm. I was in a desperate situation.

“In a few months time I’m now thinking of climbing the biggest hill to my home.

“When I am in the hydrotherapy pool my pain fades in the hot water and makes me normal again for a brief, magical, 30 minutes.”

Family and friend Alice Peterson will join him on the September 11 challenge. He says it was his friend’s book, Another Alice, about how she fought rheumatoid arthritis, which inspired him.

He added: “The challenge is a sign I’m fighting back and not prepared to go quietly.

“It’s the biggest thing I have done in the nine years. I have had life threatening surgery many times and this is worse than that.

“If this goes wrong I could be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.”

To support James and The Pinder Centre visit: www.justgiving.com/Up-the-Hill-Appeal