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Leeds Iraq war veteran's 'forgotten heroes' battle
Adam Douglas was severely injured during the Iraq War.
His wife Maria later nursed him while bringing up their young family.
Now he has set up a charity for the "forgotten" carers of wounded servicemen and women.
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Crouched behind a wall with bullets flying overhead, Corporal Adam Douglas was re-loading when a grenade blew him off his feet.
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He was in a fierce fire-fight with Saddam Hussein's Royal Guard on the outskirts of Basra.
A Royal Dragoon Guard for 15 years, Adam had gone back into the army aged 36 as a reservist.
He was called up and was part of a British unit leading the attack at
the start of the war when, on March 23, 2003, he became one of the first casualties.
Adam, now 43, said: "They fired a shoulder-launched rocket propelled grenade into the opposite side of the wall I was standing against.
"I remember everything, although at the time I had no idea that I'd been hit.
"The first thing was the ringing in my ears – it was like a powerful scream.
"The bloke I was with was kneeling over me.
"His mouth was moving but I couldn't recognise a word.
"I managed to stand up and noticed there was a lot of smoke coming off
me."
It was pouring out of a destroyed radio pack on Adam's back which had saved his life.
But the shockwave had caused massive internal injuries, including a double back fracture and spinal cord damage around his pelvis.
Adam was evacuated back to the UK.
The father-of-two said: "I by-passed Selly Oak Hospital because I was classed as too severe.
"I went to Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham. My treatment involved eight different hospitals over nine months."
Adam, from Fearnville, was discharged in December 2003.
But his ordeal was far from over.
Partially paralysed down his left leg, he also had severe damage to his bladder and bowel which left him incontinent.
Maria, 43, had to juggle looking after two young children while caring for her helpless husband.
She said: "I just got on with it. I was working for Leeds City Council as a dinner lady.
"I was getting up at six in the morning, getting myself sorted, then getting Adam up.
"At that time I had to get him into the shower, wash where he couldn't wash, get the kids ready for school, then go to work.
"We had no support from the army.
"Thankfully we've both got good families who gave us a lot of help, otherwise I don't know how we would've coped."
Adam was forced to retire from the army.
His injuries happened before the introduction of a 2005 compensation
scheme which would have entitled him to a lump sum up to 570,000.
Instead, after a four-year battle, he was earlier this month finally granted an improved war pension after the severity of his injuries were re-assessed.
After a long wrangle Maria was also awarded some backdated carer's allowance for the time she gave up her job to tend to Adam.
The ex-Mount St Mary's pupil has defied the odds, and being told he may never walk again, to work for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
But he is determined that no-one should go through what Maria, and their daughters Jessica, 13, and Sophie, 10, went through and set up a charity, The Forgotten Heroes, to provide advice and help.
There is already 2,000 in the coffers.
Adam needs to show he can raise 5,000 annually to register the charity and become eligible for outside funding.
His first major fundraiser will be a 350-ticket, 1940s fancy dress Blitz Night at the Dewsbury Road Social Club in Beeston on Saturday, October 16.
Tickets, priced 3, are available from the club at 393 Dewsbury Road, Beeston, Leeds, LS11 5LR, or on 0113 229 0555.
Adam said: "We've already come across so many carers, not just from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but other wars, who have had little or no help.
"I hope to God nobody goes through what me and my family have. There were days when I just wanted to die. But the next day I woke up, and I thought 'no, I'm not giving in'."
To make a donation, or for more details about the charity, go to www.theforgottenheroes.co.uk.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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