True grit of Harry’s heroine
Wounded veteran Kirstie is a picture of defiance... days before her amputation
‘The Prince is in daily contact with Kirstie’
SHE is the wounded war veteran who stole the hearts of a nation, and the admiration of a Prince, by bravely completing a 1,000-mile charity trek – despite suffering agony with a badly injured leg.
Now Kirstie Ennis, who walked nearly the length of Britain to help raise £250,000 for Prince Harry’s troops’ charity, has again proved her true grit by undergoing a traumatic amputation – and posting a series of defiant pictures online.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Harry has been in daily contact with the 24-year-old since the operation to remove her lower left leg on Monday.
It is the 39th operation she has endured since surviving a helicopter crash in Afghanistan in 2012.
Miami-born Kirstie, who first met Harry in 2013 at his Warrior Games event in Colorado, posted the series of pictures as social media updates to document her recovery for friends and family.
The first picture, described as ‘A creative start to the send-off for my leg’, was taken just before the operation and shows her posing seductively in a red bikini.
Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday last night, Kirstie said: ‘I chose the red outfit because it was just something fun and playful. I didn’t want anything too serious.
‘I wanted to show how I looked before surgery and I wanted to celebrate everything my foot and lower limb did for me.
‘Initially when doctors told me that I would be losing my leg I was con- cerned with body image, which is quite shallow.
‘I wanted to show that with or without my leg, I am still beautiful.’
Harry is said to be completely in awe of Kirstie. Sources say he would certainly have visited her in hospital on Monday if he wasn’t committed to charity work in South Africa.
Their close bond was cemented last month when Kirstie walked, against medical advice, for 1,000 miles from Scotland to London to raise money for Harry’s charity Walking With The Wounded.
Even with the support of a £10,000 brace, Kirstie was in constant pain and joked at the time that Harry didn’t dare to complain about his aching knees during the trek, because he knew she would give him a fierce ribbing.
When she reached the finish line at Buckingham Palace she was pictured in a tender embrace with the Prince and it was then, she says, she finally felt ready for the operation.
‘I knew it was time,’ she said last night. ‘By postponing my surgery [to take part in the trek], I was just prolonging the inevitable. I was looking forward to the surgery so that I could move on with my life.
‘Prince Harry has been very supportive. It makes this all a bit easier, knowing that there are people out there who believe in me.’
Kirstie was a gunner in a US Marines Sikorsky helicopter when it crash-landed. Her machine gun smashed into her face, and she suffered serious injuries to her legs, arms, brain and spine.
Harry is due to host the second Invictus Games – his annual Olympics-style competition for wounded veterans – in May, and Kirstie wants to be there.
She said: ‘I am doing extremely well and am quite optimistic that this recovery process will be a breeze. I plan to compete in a snowboard competition towards the end of the snow season, and am looking forward to seeing Harry when I compete in the Invictus Games.’