3:00pm Saturday 8th August 2009
Worcester News http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/video/88381/read/

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AN injured Worcester soldier has spoken about life as a triple amputee as he helped to launch an action day in aid of the charity Help for Heroes.

Tom Neathway lost both legs and his left arm after a booby-trapped bomb detonated under him.

He spoke at the launch of the armed forces action day in Worcester, which it is hoped will raise thousands of pounds for the charity.

“I would turn back everything if I could but I am still a young Para and I still crack on with things with the same mentality, it’s just I am not running around,” he said.

Corporal Neathway was serving with 2 Para in Afghanistan last year when he accidentally detonated a bobby-trap bomb hidden beneath a sandbag.

“It blew me backwards and when I sat up I realised I had lost both my feet,” he said.

“I applied tourniquets and a medic came running over. He was a South African and he just chucked me over his shoulder and ran.”

The 25-year-old ex-Bishop Perowne CE High School pupil said he didn’t feel any pain after the explosion and was fully conscious despite his horrendous injuries. He was airlifted to the field hospital at Camp Bastion where he was sedated, stabilised and then flown to the intensive care unit in Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham.

“I remember waking up and realising my left arm had been amputated and my legs were a lot shorter,” he said.

“But there was nothing I could do about it so I wanted to crack on.”

From Selly Oak he moved to Headley Court where he was given prosthetic legs and took his first tentative steps again.

It is now just over a year since he was injured and he has moved from his parents’ – Amanda and Alan – house in Astwood Road, Worcester, to a bungalow near the city.

A Porche has been specially adapted so he can drive. He his skied, water-skied and parachuted since the accident. He now wants people to show their support to injured troops by attending the action day at West Mercia Police Headquarters in Hindlip on Sunday, September 6, between noon and 4.30pm.

There will be displays from police dog handlers, an Army bomb disposal squad, parachute freefall team and aerial displays from military aircraft. Military vehicles, including tanks, classic police cars and the Le Mans-winning Aston Martin will be on show.

All the soldiers have given their time for free.

Sergeant Al Short, who is organising, said: “There are so many seriously injured troops, like Tom, returning from Afghanistan who need our support. This is just our way of showing them we care.”

Tickets cost £20 per car, £5 per person on foot from the park-and-ride at Sixways Stadium. They will be on sale every Saturday from August, 15, between 10am and 2pm at Tesco in St Peter’s, Worcester. Or call Michelle at the police dog section on 01905 332321 or e-mail michelle.devey-carvill