Amputee breaks his leg at sea - but has a spare!

An amputee Afghanistan veteran rowing across the Atlantic has proved his high seas humour by saying: “I’ve broken my leg – luckily I brought another along with me.”

The disabled oarsman sparked hysterics by reporting the accident and adding: “I had a spare and a few twists of an Allen key and I was back in action.”

Royal Marine Colour Sergeant Lee Spencer is part of a team of amputees and Blesma Members, backed by Prince Harry, competing in the daunting 3,000 mile Trans-Atlantic race.

“It is difficult to get around the boat and I caught my leg between the oar and the side of the boat and it snapped,” he added. “I almost ended up in the drink but fortunately I had spare parts and got going again.”

The four-man crew, led by double amputee Royal Dragoon Lance Corporal Cayle Royce MBE, are 23 days into the gruelling challenge, raising money for charities including Blesma, The Limbless Veterans.

The Row2Recovery team – which has the nickname 4 men-3 legs – has already rowed almost 1,500 nautical miles and celebrated Christmas and New Year coping with huge waves and strong currents.

“The weather has been relatively good to us so fare but it was very disconcerting at first being in a small fibre glass boat staring up at 20 foot waves,” added father-of-two Lee, who survived three tours of duty in Afghanistan, but lost his right leg above the knee when helping a motorist after a crash on the M3 two years ago.

“You have to deal with sores, blisters, boils, salt sores and the fatigue but our military training and discipline has stood us in good stead. Getting about the boat with prosthetics is not easy and changing shifts is a challenge as we are awkward and cumbersome as we clamber over each other.”

They are rowing in pairs in two hour shifts and get rest in a tiny cabin in between doing repairs on the 24-foot boat, which is in a fleet of 25 able bodied crews racing across the ocean from the Canary Islands to Antigua.

“We had a few Christmas presents and a drop of whisky at New Year but they were just rowing days,” added C Sgt Spencer, from Yelverton, Devon. “We are averaging 70 miles a day and we’re here to get on with it. The more we mess about, the longer it will take.

“What really motivates us is the pride we feel flying the flag for disabled servicemen and all disabled people. We are currently 9^th and hope to finish higher up and we will be able to say: ‘look what we’ve done with 3 legs between us’. That is driving us on.

“We are proving there is life after injury and you can challenge yourself in different ways. You don’t have to row an ocean but we are challenging people’s perceptions of limbless and disabled people.”

Barry Le Grys, chief executive of Blesma, The Limbless Veterans, added: “This is an incredible effort and shows just what can be achieved post injury. As Lee says, you don’t have to do a massive challenge like this but you can be independent and return to a rewarding, fulfilling life.”

The Row2Recovery team is completed with former Irish Guardsman Paddy Gallagher, 30, from Cambridgeshire, who lost his leg below the knee to an IED blast in Nad E Ali, Afghanistan, in 2009, and former RAF Flight Sergeant Nigel Rogoff, 56, from Hereford, who lost his leg above the knee in an RAF parachute display team accident.

Royce, 29, from Devon who had a double amputation and lost the fingers on his left hand following a blast in Helmand, Afghanistan, while serving with the Brigade Reconnaissance Force in 2012, is the only member of the team to have competed in the race before.

The  crews are racing in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge and expect the race to take six weeks.