‘It’s a family tradition… to go above and beyond your job’
Dr Aamer Khan first met Mark Allen, a soldier in the Royal Anglian Regiment, after his girlfriend paid for private laser treatment to help reduce the scarring that Mark, 26, suffered when he was caught in a bomb blast in Afghanistan.
Mark has lost both of his legs below the knee and had shrapnel wounds to his lower face, arms and neck.
Within minutes, it was clear to Dr Khan that one treatment would not be nearly enough. It would have been devastating news to the young couple without Harley Street’s Dr Khan’s assurance that he would personally make sure Mark got all the treatment he needed for free.
As the pair got to know each other, the doctor realised that Headley Court – the Ministry of Defence military rehabilitation unit – can only do so much for our injured.
Since then, Mark is just one of many soldiers who’s been helped by Dr Khan’s charity Back On Track, set up with wife Lesley Reynolds in 2014.
‘I want to do this as a way of showing respect for our soldiers,’ explains Dr Khan. ‘They are heroes and I wanted to acknowledge that – as my grandfather did and my great grandfather had done before me.’
Dr Khan’s great grandfather fought in the First World War and was the first Muslim soldier to receive the Victoria Cross. The surgeon’s grandfather was a military doctor who also gave his spare time and services for free in remote villages in the Himalayas.
Back On Track arranges Go Karting days to raise money, and Dr Khan still operates on anyone from the military he believes needs his help. As he says, ‘In my family, it’s just a tradition to go above and beyond your everyday job.’
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