WIFE TELLS OF EX-SOLDIER’S LONG ROAD TO RECOVERY ‘I had to hope surgeons had skills to save my Richard’

A FORMER soldier stunned doctors by recovering from a brain injury that left him unable to walk or talk.

Richard Gray, 66, was bed-bound after a haemorrhage which led to a stroke in 2013.

His wife Fiona Lloyd-Davies said: “I found him in the foetal position shouting ‘Stop this f***ing pain’ and I knew there was something very wrong.

“We were rushed to hospital and slowly I saw him slip into a coma. And at seven o’clock in the morning the doctor said to me ‘You should call his children’, which I knew meant he was probably going to die.”

Surgeons warned Fiona they weren’t sure if Richard would survive long enough to have a vital operation.

Fiona, 53, said: “There was nothing I could do but wait and hope. Hope the surgeon had the skill to save his life but also hope that if he did survive that Richard – my Richard – would still be there.”

Richard made it through surgery but faced a gruelling two-year recovery.

His plight was a world away from his work as an unarmed peacekeeper for the UN. While in Bosnia, Richard faced snipers, mortar bombs and machine guns as he crossed the frontline for negotiations.

Fiona, from Kent, said: “I always tried to be as upbeat as possible when I was with him…being as cheerful as possible to engage him back into the real world. But it was hard.

“Most of the time it felt like someone was reaching into my chest and ripping my heart out. It was very difficult because you felt part of him had gone and yet he was still there.”

Three months after his stroke Richard had an operation to replace part of his skull which had been removed by surgeons.

He also had months of treatments including hydrotherapy, art therapy, contact with horses and sessions on a driving simulator.

At one point docs told Fiona his recovery had stalled but he went on to prove them wrong.

Two years after the stroke Richard returned home.

Fiona said: “It was an incredible moment to see him walk through the front door and be home once again. It was something I wasn’t sure would ever be possible.

“But it was also hugely daunting because here was someone who was 100% dependant on me. It was a lot to take on.”

But three years and three months on from the stroke Richard was able to walk unaided and play golf.

Fiona said his recovery had gone far beyond anyone’s expectations.

Richard, who served almost 30 years in the New Zealand army, reaching the rank of colonel, has had intensive therapy to learn to talk again.

Fiona said: “Richard used to say to me ‘Fi, I’d walk over a mile of broken glass for you’. And the past four years have been my chance to do that for him.”

Fiona recorded a video diary of his recovery to help her cope.

The incredible footage will be shown tomorrow at 9pm in a BBC Two Horizon special: My Amazing Brain — Richard’s War.