‘Giving back is the least I can do’
Sergeant Stu Parker says medicine might have saved his life, but it’s the Not Forgotten Association (NFA) that helped him to start living again.
The sergeant almost died after being wounded in action, and now helps others who’ve had similar experiences.
Stu was just 16 when he joined the Royal Anglian Regiment in 1994. He served in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. But it was on 23 August 2007 that he nearly lost his life.
Serving in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, he was caught in a massive explosion, when a 500lb bomb blew up.
Three of his comrades were killed outright. Another, like Stu, was severely wounded.
Stu’s near-fatal injuries included losing his spleen, part of his left lung, and breaking several ribs and his right leg. He lost the hearing in his left ear and suffered shrapnel wounds. Not to mention the terrible mental scars of losing men he had fought alongside.
He was in a coma for three weeks, and doesn’t remember those first days in intensive care when his life hung in the balance.
But Stu’s dad, John, who kept a bedside vigil, often reminds him of how a doctor took him aside and told him, ‘There are a lot of sick people in this hospital, but your son is the sickest.’
Stu made it out of hospital and returned to his parents’ house in Braintree, Essex, to recuperate. At 6ft 4in, this previously active man was a shell of his former self, weighing just 10st.
But then came an invitation that was to be a turning point – and a lifeline – for Stu
‘The Not Forgotten Association invited me to a Christmas party,’ he says.
Stu, who had been a keen long-distance runner, attended the event using walking sticks.
‘ When I left hospital, the doctors had said I’d never walk unaided again,’ he explains.
But, at the event, he met Rosie, the NFA’s event manager. A runner herself, she asked if Stu fancied doing the New York Marathon the following year.
He took up the challenge. Each step was agony, but, he slowly built up strength in his legs. Months after his accident, he defied the medics by running the marathon in just over four hours.
He now devotes his spare time to raising money for, and awareness of, the Not Forgotten Association. He has run or walked thousands of miles on behalf of the charity.
NFA holds various events throughout the year, from fishing weekends to trips to Majorca. None would be complete without Stu, now 41, with his cheery sense of humour, driving the minibus.
‘The Association rescued me,’ he says. ‘They help soldiers from 18 to 105. No matter how you are injured, they don’t discriminate – if you’ve served your country and need help, they’re there. Giving back is the least I can do.’