ATTACK survivor Tom Bendall has achieved his goal of being able to walk – but that is just the start.

Tom is now booked to do his first-ever sky-dive and will take to the skies above Nottingham in August.

Since moving to a specialist brain injury unit at Tutshill Tom, who grew up in Aylburton, has made huge progress.

Richard Phillips, headteacher at Tutshill Church of England Primary School, visited Tom at the nearby Castleford Lodge unit to have a chat about doing a parachute jump and to receive a cheque.

Mr Phillips said: "I'll be doing a parachute jump at the Gower soon, and I'll be able to give Tom a few tips."

Staff at the unit and at the adjoining Castleford House nursing home made a donation of £50 to Mr Phillips's aim to raise £600 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Tom was assaulted and run over on the A48 in 1998 and was in a coma for six months.

He said he was looking to the parachute challenge in the summer.

"It was my idea and I'm looking forward to it," he said.

Unit manager Sylvia Williams: "Tom has come on so much since he came here in January.

"He was told he would never walk again but when he came here and we asked him what he wanted to do, he said he wanted to walk.

"He can walk a short distance with an aid and now his next aim is to do a parachute jump – he's a real inspiration."