FOR WOUNDED SOLDIERS
Corp Ricky Fergusson
At the age of 16, Ricky joined the Royal Green Jackets after leaving school. The Royal Green Jackets was part of a restructure of the infantry, and as of 1st February 2007, became the Rifles with 5 regular (1st to 5th) and 2 Territorial Army battalions (6th & 7th). Ricky was part of the 4th Battalion. He did his first tour of Northern Ireland for 1 ½ years from 2005 to 2006. His 2nd tour was in Iraq for six months in 2007 and his 3rd tour was from October 2009 which was Afghanistan. Ricky received the Military Cross from the Queen for acts of bravery and risking his own life to save four other soldiers, when they were injured by IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices). He also tried to save another soldier, however this soldier later died from his injuries.
Ricky lost both his legs, his left eye as well as parts of his fingers on both hands in a bomb blast in Afghanistan, in January 2010. Ricky was admitted to Headley Court, the Defence Medical Rehabilitation unit for injured service men and women, in May 2010 where he spent approximately six months having treatment for his injuries.
Ricky had been in service for 10 ½ years before being discharged due to his injuries.
At Headley Court, Ricky was introduced to training on Total Gym units. He has since made a remarkable recovery to get up on his Prosthetic legs and become a full time C-Leg user.
Despite his injuries, Ricky is an active individual. He received the Military Cross from the Queen at Buckingham Palace in December 2010, when he had just received his first pair of prosthetic legs. Determined not to receive this in a wheelchair, Ricky walked to meet the Queen and receive his medal with the help of two walking sticks.
He has had the pleasure to carry the Olympic Torch in Broseley in May 2012, saying: “with prosthetic legs, they gave me the only hill of the journey to get up!”
He was awarded The Millie Award for Life Saving, The Freeman of the Borough Telford and Wrekin Award, and also had a great honour to carry the Premier League Trophy for Manchester United onto the pitch at Old Trafford.
GRAVITY UK and Just Rifles teamed up to supply Ricky with Total Gym equipment to aid his ongoing rehabilitation.
References:
http://www.headleysurrey.org.uk/hc.htm
JUST RIFLES IS SUPPORTED BY:
