Their Story

I joined the Royal Air Force when I was 17 straight from College. I was in Afghanistan with the RAF Regiment and my role was Force Protection. The time when I was injured in Afghanistan it was my 4th deployment to the country as well as deploying to Iraq 4 times.

I was in Afghanistan for about 6 months when I was blown up by an IED. We were in Helmand and my job, as Patrol Commander was to protect equipment and personnel. We were securing the area for flights to land into Helmand.

On our second day, large aircraft carrying troops and cargo were coming in under the cover of darkness so during the day we were driving to a nearby village to meet the head man to find out the mood of the villagers towards us.
It had been raining and was then very dry so the ground was packed hard.

I was travelling in an open topped fighting vehicle known as a Jackal. My vehicle was the second vehicle out of a three vehicle patrol. The first vehicle passed over the IED and our vehicle detonated the IED and was blown up. I was taken first to Camp Bastion and then flown to Birmingham.  I only know what happened from what I have been told when I woke up 2 months later in Birmingham Hospital.

My right leg had to be rebuilt whilst I was still induced and unfortunately the rebuild failed which caused circulation problems resulting in the loss of toes and eventually an elective amputation.  I also don't remember the weeks leading up to the accident but when I checked back on Facebook I had sent my wife a Valentine message telling her I would see her soon. It was a shock when I eventually woke up to find my left leg gone and my right leg in a bad state with toes missing and lumps of leg gone. My jaw was wired, my shoulders were fractured and I had tubes, cables and wires all over my body.

Every day I concentrated on small challenges - to get rid of a tube or a wire, I needed to do this. To get rid of a cable, I needed to that. I didn't want to let it get me down and just wanted to move forward and for my family to be able to stop worrying about me.

Blesma is such a nice family orientated charity. Not 'in your face' or pushy but always there to put an arm round you and help whenever you need them. With regards to Blesma I am extremely grateful for the help, support and opportunities given to myself from Blesma to allow me to move forward with my rehabilitation and progression towards a normal life as possible for myself and my family. Without the extended arm of support shown by Blesma, it wouldn't have been possible to become half the man I am today.

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