Jack Cummings was part of a Royal Engineers bomb disposal team when he was injured by a bomb blast in Afghanistan in 2010, losing both legs above the knee

“I joined the Army when I was 16 – a week after getting my GCSEs. My dad had been a soldier and advised me to join the Royal Engineers to get civilian qualifications. I trained as an electrician, but after I’d qualified I was told I would be going into bomb disposal because Afghanistan was really starting to ramp up.

I deployed on my first tour of Afghanistan when I was just 19 and the job was packed with adrenaline – I felt as though I was doing proper soldiering.

“When I went back in 2010 the threat had totally changed. The roadside bombs were much smaller and had less metal in them, so they were harder to find. Our troops were getting killed every day."

Bomb disposal specialist 

“I was injured on 14 August 2010. I was 22 years old. I can’t remember anything about what happened but have been told that I’d been searching an area when an IED went off. My team commander thought I was dead.

The guys on the ground applied tourniquets and kept me conscious until the emergency response team got there.

“The doctors didn’t think I’d make it, and when my mum and dad got the dreaded knock on the door they were told to just pack a weekend bag because they would be coming to say goodbye.”

“I was in a coma for 30 days, then in intensive care for six months. When I woke up, what had happened didn’t kick in until a week or so later, when I was able to talk to my dad. He’s ex-Army, a man’s man, but when I asked him if I’d lost my legs he started to cry.”

The Invictus Games medallist added: “I’ve had loads of operations since then – too many to count. At the start I was in and out of theatre most days. I went into rehab in 2011 and stayed there for three-and-a-half years.

It was slow; I was given prosthetics but because my injury is through the pelvis on one side they didn’t work. And I had to relearn everything – how to shower, how to drive a car with adaptations, how to use the toilet again…

“More than anything I wanted my independence back and, by May 2014, I had finished rehab and was medically discharged from the Army. Mentally, I just get on with things. I met a Special Forces guy who’d been paralysed after he was shot through the neck. He was getting on with his life so I thought I should, too.

I felt very lucky to be alive. I became independent again and I got married in 2017 – I have so much to live for.

“And Blesma has been there for me from the start. I’ve been skiing with them, and they’ve given me a really good wheelchair. I took part in last year’s London Marathon to give something back – I finished in about four hours and raised more than £3,000.

Now, I’m enjoying the gift that is life, and sharing that with my wife, Sarah. We’ve been through hell, so now we want to enjoy life together.”

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