Sav e Our Soldiers

Invictus Games medal winner James Rose set out to conquer Africa’s highest peak after he lost both legs in Afghanistan – and exercise helped him come to terms with the horror.

The tortuous climb to the 19,340ft summit left him exhausted, sick and crawling in agony ny on his bruised and battered knuckles because his prosthetic legs had filled with blood from a wound.

But he says the inspirational messages from wife Naiomi, which he had stashed in his backpack, kept him going all the way to the top.

James, 32, said: “I couldn’t have done it without her. Physically I was completely broken, but mentally those letters made me feel like I could do anything.”

Naiomi, 30, handed him the notes at the airport just before he set off on his mission in Tanzania.

In the first moving message she promised: “I will be with you every step of the way. I miss you every day loads already. Remember it is mind over matter and you have done lots of training for this. You are my hero and I will be seeing you soon.”

From then on, James read a note from Naiomi every day.

But on the very last day of the climb – and just 200 metres from the top – he was so ravaged by his injuries and altitude sickness, he told his teammates he couldn’t go on.

James, who has suffered crippling PTSD, said: “Since I lost my legs I’ve been in some very dark places and I know that if I hadn’t reached the top of Kili, I could easily have slipped back there.

“I had terrible altitude sickness, my body was in pieces and I told my teammates I couldn’t go on.

“We were climbing up deep gravel, so it was literally two steps forward, two steps back.

“We were just 200 metres from the top, but the air was so thin I had to stop for breath every few steps.

“We’d had minimal sleep, I was in incredible pain and I really thought that this time I had bitten off too much.

“It just felt like we weren’t making any progress. I started shouting and swearing at everyone around me and I knew I was collapsing mentally.

“And, with just a few hundred metres to go, I sat down and told everyone it was over.”

But then James remembered the message he had read from Naiomi the night before.

In it she had promised him a “parmo” – his favourite chicken snack – when he got back to their hometown Middlesbrough. The proud wife had