Help and hope for Paralympic former military heroes

 

For injured servicemen and women returning to the UK,adaptingto their new life presents a huge challenge.

Bryn Parry founded Help for Heroes in 2007 in order to support them and help rehabilitate them.

Help for Heroes can be attributed with developing a whole new generation of ex-servicemen athletes through the Battle Back programme which runs in partnership with the Ministry of Defence.

The support offered to soldiers who have lost arms, legs and even the will to live has been invaluable to many of the British athletes who will be representing team GB at the Paralympics in London 2012.

Chris Holmes, a fifteen times medal-winning swimmer and Paralympic organisation director, is a long-time patron for the charity.

"I first heard of Help for Heroes when it just started up, I was just so keen, I had to get involved," he explained.

"What is trying to be achieved by Bryn is absolutely extraordinary and absolutely right." With the support of figures such as Holmes, the charity can continue to, in Holmes' words, "do right by our servicemen and women injured in conflict."

Other prominent supporters are James Blunt, Andy Murray, HRH Prince Harry and David Beckham. The aim of the program is to do right by British servicemen and give them opportunities after being injured serving their country.

Help for Heroes provides injured service people sports training, showing them what they can achieve, as part of the overall pathway to recovery to help them adapt to their new life. Derek Derenalagi is just one example of how Help for Heroes has spurred on these injured patriots to continue living a life of fulfillment in sport.

I decided it would be my career, and I've loved it since I started athletics," Derek confessed.

After losing both his legs above his knees in 2007 when his patrol vehicle hit an IED and exploded in the Helmand Province in Afghanistan, Derek has gone on to break two British records in the shot-put and is hoping to repeat this success in the Discus.

"Help for Heroes is a fantastic charity," he said. "What they have done to raise awareness of wounded soldiers like myself is amazing. I am just thankful."

The effect of Help for Heroes is becoming apparent. There are more and more injured service people competing at the Paralympic Games because the funding Help for Heroes provides allows these people to take up a Paralympic sport and have opportunities to progress to an elite level, opportunities that simply would not be there without the organisation.

The London Paralympics 2012 is undoubtedly one of the greatest sporting spectacles this country has ever seen but whatever colour the medal that hangs around our athletes necks, the bravery and sacrifices made to protect the very country we live in should always be remembered.

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