Army

Double Amputee One Step Closer To His Cenotaph Dream

One of Britain’s most severly injured veterans, double amputee Rick Clement, has embarked on the journey of a lifetime.

The former Sergeant from the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment lost his legs and his ability to have children, when he stepped on a Taliban bomb in Afghanistan in 2010.

Within a year of his recovery, his marriage broke down too.

He has been in a wheelchair ever since, but he hopes to take a few steps at the Blackpool Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday, so he can lay a wreath for his fallen colleagues.

Rick has been practising his walking at the Specialist Mobility and Rehabilitation Centre in Preston, with support from five-metre long parallel bars.

Rick Clement stepped on an IED in Afghanistan five years ago

Now, for the first time, he has taken some steps supported by one bar alone.

It is a challenging manoeuvre, as Rick has just his upper body strength and his arms to move his prosthetics, and there is a risk that he could fall, seriously injuring himself.

That is not Rick’s only challenge. He has developed a hernia which will require an operation and has a new, unexplained pain in his groin which will need a scan.

But he is convinced he will be able to take a few steps at the Blackpool Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday, to remember the soldiers who lost their lives.