WELSH HEROES HEAD FOR INVICTUS GAMES
These are the former armed forces personnel from across Wales who have travelled to Sydney to compete in the Invictus Games led by a Welsh Army veteran who will compete as well as lead Team GB at the games. ABBIE WIGHTWICK reports
MICHAEL MATTHEWS
The 31-yearold was medically discharged in May 2015. The former lance corporal from Cardiff says he is using the 2018 Invictus Games to help him regain his purpose and sense of camaraderie.
“Competing will re-establish a sense of belonging to a brotherhood and evoke the feeling of team spirit in which I had in the Army prior to my injuries.”
Since starting training for the games, Michael says he has fully committed himself to recovery, and has started a wheelchair rugby club that he trains with on a weekly basis.
“I want the feeling that I am serving for my country once more, but in a sport that has helped my recovery.”
RYAN HEWITT
Injured in 2010, he said: “I spent over three and a half years at DMRC Headley Court undergoing rehabilitation for injuries sustained on operations.
“As part of my recovery I participated in the Help for Heroes Portsmouth to Paris Bike Ride 2011, the Wounded Warrior Project Bike Ride USA 2011, and I attempted Team True Spirit Iron Man Event 2011 (Bolton). At that stage I felt my recovery was going well.”
However, when the 26-year-old from Llandudno was medically discharged in 2013, he says: “I became isolated, disengaged and unable to function normally. I stopped using my prosthetic legs and became wheelchair bound.”
After attending an adaptive sports taster day and watching the 2016 Invictus Games in Orlando, Ryan decided to join a local wheelchair basketball team.
“This has given me confidence, drive and passion – it has improved my overall mental health and wellbeing. I have been training to take part in the Invictus Games for nearly two years and having the ability to attend these games really will help my ongoing recovery.”
LEE MATTHEWS
The 29-yearold former Army veteran, who grew up in Caldicot, said:“The past year has been the hardest time of my life in terms of recovery. The deterioration of both my physical condition and my mental health resulted in my life tumbling out of control. I became hopeless, frustrated and angry.
“The Invictus Games has helped me already. Although training camps have proved very challenging and have caused a lot of anxiety, the process has already helped me start to build confidence again and push back against my mental health.”
JEFF ROBINSON
Former flight sergeant Jeff Robinson, 49, of Llantwit Major, was discharged from the RAF in 2010.
“During my time serving I sustained a number of serious injuries. Each time, it took longer and more support to recover.
“Invictus Games 2018 gives me that continued support at every training session and match played with the opportunity to not only help me in my recovery, but now to also be able to assist and mentor others who are just starting out on their recovery journey.
“I continue to use sport and physical activity as a major tool in my recovery. I also train on a weekly basis with the Ospreys Wheelchair Rugby Club. Invictus has given me the confidence to return to work and study.”
ALEXANDRA MCCLELLAN
The former sergeant, from Ffynnon Gynydd, Gwynedd, suffered a stroke and was discharged in 2014.
The 39-yearold credits Invictus training camps with re-igniting her desire to succeed and her passion for sport.
“Since the day my stroke happened I have never fitted anyone’s criteria,” she said. “Over time I have become quite lonely, insular and disconnected with everyday emotion and motivation.
“Sitting on that rowing machine at an Invictus training camp I spent the first day trying not to cry as it was so overwhelming. But, I felt passion and such a desire to push myself and beat my own goals that has been missing for so long.
“The Invictus environment is one where you feel everyone is included – it feels liberating.
“I aim to continue focusing on a challenge in the hope that I feel and look more like the old me again.”
STEVE SEBBURN
Doctors told Army veteran Steve ‘Seb’ Sebburn from Brecon that he would never run or cycle again as a result of back and brain injuries. But he refused to accept that diagnosis and competed at the Invictus Games 2017.
The former lance corporal said competing gives him strength, focus and a sense of pride.
“To see my family look at me in the team kit with such pride as they did when I wore the uniform just inspires me to try again,” he said.
“I have gained so much from the whole process and I know I will keep growing as a person, a veteran, a husband and a father through all Help for Heroes have invested in my family and I.”
MARK ‘DOT’ PERKINS
The former corporal in the Royal Signals suffered severe hip and leg injuries when the Army vehicle he was travelling across Kenya in skidded on an oil spill and overturned 18 years ago.
Mark, then 25, suffered left hip and leg injuries as he was flung under the vehicle with two others, both of whom were killed.
The young soldier’s hip dislocated through his pelvis and he suffered nerve damage. The injuries left him needing multiple operations including two hip replacements in three years after the first became infected. Mark, who had to use a wheelchair for months after the accident, still has no feeling in his left leg and was also treated for survivor guilt and adjustment disorder.
Now married with a daughter, Mark works as a civilian at RAF St Athan and he is the captain of the UK Invictus Games team.