Support the wounded with Help for Heroes

Thank you very much for showing an interest in my petition. I feel that supporting the wounded ex-servicemen and women is very important! Not many people seem to take interest in making sure that the people who serve our country are looked after and get all the help they need. Mark Ormrod is an ex-serviceman who got injured whilst serving in Afghanistan. Once you have read about him, I hope you will know a bit more about the injuries that these people can sustain and what Help for Heroes do. Also I hope you feel that you will want to help.

Here is Royal Marine Mark Ormrod’s story. It was Christmas Eve 2007 when Mark was involved in getting one half of his section into their firing positions. It was when he went to get into his firing position that his life changed completely.

He set off an IED (Improvised Explosive Device)!!

After the explosion his first thoughts were to stand up and start fighting back to the enemy. With all the confusion and everything going on, he knew something wasn’t right. As the sand and dust began to settle down he looked down and saw that both of his legs were missing. He needed 28 pints of blood. After he got into hospital and was starting to recover, in his own words he said to the nurse ‘The morphine’s making me feel crazy it looks like my arms not there’ He remembers seeing the nurses face and she said ‘Mark your arms not there’. Mark had both of his legs amputated up to the knee and his right arm amputated just above the elbow. After 4 weeks of lying in a hospital bed, he was released from hospital in a wheel chair. His family were staying right across the road in a flat that the military provided. One of the most depressing times for him was when he discovered he couldn't do the simplest of tasks, for example to be able to fit through the doorway unless it had been widened for him. He couldn't get up because his legs were too sore and the floor looked a million miles away. Marks treatment has paid off and he is living a happy life once again.

The cost of Marks treatment was about £115,000. The 2010-11 financial years was the worst year so far for amputations in Afghanistan, often caused by hidden improvised explosive devices. There were 75 over that period alone. Help for Heroes need your donations to make sure every wounded soldier associated with H4H gets the same support and care as Mark did.

As Mark said “The injuries I sustained in Afghanistan changed my life…but they do not define it…”

Thank you so much again for looking at my petition, you can find out more about this brilliant charity by going to http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/. I hope you will take the time to sign this petition (filling out the location box). Thank you. Why not have a look at this short video...