A MAN described as "a walking miracle" because of his phenomenal fund-raising efforts, despite suffering from a crippling condition, will be visiting Darwen on Friday to raise money for arthritis research.

David Paterson, 45, from Bedford, will be collecting outside Sainsbury's in Hardman Way from 10am to 4pm, to raise money for the Arthritis research Campaign (ARC).

David, who has suffer from arthritis since he was a child, has now topped the £540,000 mark after fund-raising for the charity for 22 years.

In 1986 pioneering surgery gave him back his mobility after years of being crippled.

Since then he has spent more than 152,000 hours as a volunteer and covered more than half a million miles collecting for the ARC outside Sainsbury's, Savcentre and Homebase stores, in more than 50 different towns in the UK.

Jenny Robson, ARC regional fund-raiser for the North West said: "David is a real wonder at raising money for us and we're always on the lookout for new volunteers to help out with a variety of fund-rasing activities.

"Anyone who has a few hours to spare and who would like to get involved in the charity can call me on 01704 509765. I'd love to hear from them."

The ARC is the fifth largest medical research charity in the country and exists solely to find the cause of and cure for arthritis and all other forms of rheumatic disease.

Last year it raised £22m to fund research all over the country.

The charity hopes as many people as possible will come and show their support for David on Friday.