2021
Blesma Updates for 2021, covering news, activities and fundraising events for limbless veterans.
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From South Africa to Chelmsford in seconds
2 January 2022
An isolated veteran living in South Africa is connecting with his friends online for the first time with the help of Blesma’s Digital Inclusion Programme. Leo Kirk, 87, contacted Blesma last June after he felt disconnected from those around him during the height of the pandemic. “I saw lots of wonderful online activities in Blesma Magazine , and I wanted to get involved,” said the REME veteran who lost his right leg below the knee in a road traffic accident.
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When Lexi Met Tania
28 December 2021
Pain has been a gnawing, debilitating and constant companion for Lexi Chambers for the best part of 20 years. The former Royal Signals soldier, marathon runner and award-winning fitness instructor, has endured eight surgical operations over eight years, starting with the removal of a toe and culminating several years ago with the elective amputation of her left leg. Along the way, her diary has been crammed with medical appointments, procedures, reviews and an ever-increasing cocktail of painkillers, antibiotics and opiates to quell the excruciating pain tha
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The Veteran's Gateway
23 December 2021
The Blesma office is closed between 24th December and 3rd January. If you are in need of any guidance or support over the festive period, please consider contacting the Veterans’ Gateway, which is open 24/7 including Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. How do I contact the Veterans Gateway?
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Getting his life back on track!
22 December 2021
The Royal Tank Regiment, and the wider British Army, was Murray Hambro’s passion for the 12 years he served in it, but his military life – and much else beyond – was shattered in Afghanistan in 2010 when the Warthog armoured vehicle he was travelling in drove over an IED. As a result of the injuries he sustained in the blast, Murray ended up having both his legs amputated below the knee. In the years that followed worse was to come as he struggled mentally with the aftermath of injury and his discharge from the military, and then lost his young son to a sudd
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