A man has been raising money for a charity close to his heart – and has lost nearly five stone at the same time preparing for next year’s London Marathon.

Scott Rowntree, 34, of Gateshead Road, Borehamwood, weighed more than 21 stone last year and, after nearly losing his two daughters, he is losing his weight to complete the London Marathon in 2017 race for charity.

When his two daughters were born 11 years ago by C-section they were both severely underweight, and one of them, Esme, was so weak she stopped breathing and was not responding.

After 10 minutes of working on Esme, who weighed 1lb 6oz when she was born, the doctors and nurses managed to help her and she started to respond.

Mr Rowntree’s other daughter, Brooke, weighed 2lb 2oz and also had collapsed with lung and breathing difficulties as well.

Now Mr Rowntree is taking part in a number of fundraising events with the hope of raising more than £2,500 for Bliss – a charity which provides the care and support for premature babies and their families.

Mr Rowntree said: “We had the worst news anyone could dream of. We had the same again on a number of occasions.

“We kept asking ourselves, ‘Where/who do we turn to? What is going on? Why has this happened?’ “We did not have the answers, but Bliss did. All the support and help from Bliss was unbelievable, and they do not get enough credit.

“I want to give back so they can give to parents what they have given me and my wife. It is a brilliant charity.

“They do not get any credit for what they do. People should know more about them.”

Mr Rowntree is doing as much as he can to raise more than his target of £2,500 and last Saturday he was involved in the Elstree and Borehamwood Civic Festival.

He decided to offer facepainting to the attendees of the annual Families Day, in Meadow Park, Borehamwood.

So far Mr Rowntree has raised more than £500, but he still has a long way to reach his final goal.

Now Mr Rowntree has secured a place in the London Marathon 2017 and despite being overweight, Mr Rowntree is now training to complete the race for Bliss.

He said: “I have wanted to do this marathon for years and never had the courage to do it.

“I was more than 21 stone last year and I have been training very hard, and now weigh 16.5 stone and will be losing more.

“I am not an expert runner but I am up for this challenge to give back to the charity.”

Both Mr Rowntree’s daughters are healthy and have been cheering him on during his training.

To donate to Mr Rowntree’s justgiving page visit here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Scott-Rowntree1?utm_id=25