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    PAPERBACK RELEASE: Mark Ormrod's book MAN DOWN
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    TOPIC: PAPERBACK RELEASE: Mark Ormrod's book MAN DOWN
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    PAPERBACK RELEASE: Mark Ormrod's book MAN DOWN 12 Years ago Karma: 12
    Our inspirational Patron & former 40 Commando Royal Marine Mark Ormrod's book 'MAN DOWN' is to be released in paperback during August this year.

    Available to purchase from Amazon, Play.com. WH Smiths & most leading book stores

    The book tells a gripping and full account of Marks incredible journey from the battlefields in Afghanistan and the injuries he sustained right through to his time spent in Selly Oak Hostpital & subsequent rehabilitation at Headley Court. It includes a detailed description of the moment he stepped on a Taliban landmine, which tore through his body, stripping him of both his legs and right arm - how he begged a fellow Marine to shoot him, rather than allow him to survive his devastating injuries....

    .... Marks truly miraculous recovery has allowed him to campaign and tirelessly fundraise in order to aid other seriously wounded comrades.

    AN EXTRACT FROM MARKS' BOOK:

    We were on patrol, on top of a hill near a rock landmark the lads called North Fort. Initially I thought I'd been hit by a rocket or mortar. That meant the Taliban were close. I tried to turn around and get into the firing position. . . and realised I couldn't move.

    "Why can't I move, what's happened to me?" I looked down to where my legs should be. They were completely gone.

    Bits were hanging out everywhere. My trousers were shredded. My Osprey body armour, a heavy Kevlar vest with ceramic plates covering my chest and upper back, had been ripped clean off. My SA80A2 rifle was nowhere to be seen. My helmet had been knocked to the back of my head and the chin strap, still fastened, was wedged up under my nose.

    I could hear people scrambling up the loose rocks towards me. As the stretcher bearers loaded me on to the back of the vehicle, Dave the medic climbed in and formally gave me the good news: "Rammers, you have sustained a serious injury to both legs."
    "No sh**!" I replied. "I guess my dancing days are over."

    At that Sgt Major Bob Toomey got hold of me by the stub of my femur bone, sticking out of the remains of my shattered thigh, and floored the accelerator. He held me with an iron grip until we were safely at the base.

    A paramedic came out of the helicopter and did a quick assessment of me before running back and using hand signals to relay my condition to Lt Col Jeremy Field, the consultant anaesthetist in the back of the helicopter. The paramedic swiped his hand across his legs in a chopping motion and then drew his hand across his throat. The message he intended was: "Both of the casualty's legs have been blown off."
    Lt Col Field read it as: "The casualty has lost both his legs and is dead."
    Then he lifted one of my eyelids and saw my eyeball move. He'd been a bit hasty, I hadn't gone yet. Game on!

    During the eight-minute flight they forced about three pints of fluid into me. My blood pressure had collapsed to the point there wasn't enough oxygen getting into my brain for it to remember to tell my lungs to breathe.

    Lt Col Field has served in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq with a medical career spanning 25 years. He told me later he'd never treated anyone so close to death who then made it. Most of the lads who'd seen me at the base reckoned I was a dead man.

    Next day was Christmas. Thanks Santa, nice one.

    I was taken from the field hospital at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province to the hospital at Selly Oak in Birmingham. I arrived on Christmas Day around 3pm. Becky was already there with my family. Mum and Dad came in first...


    Mark also recently participated in an interview for BBC Devon where he describes his latest incredibly challengeing fundraising efforts. To read this interview please follow the link below:
    news.bbc.co.uk/local/devon/hi/people_and..._8842000/8842627.stm
    Lucy Aldridge
    Lucy Aldridge (Lucy Aldridge)
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    Last Edit: 2010/08/03 17:41 By Lucy Aldridge.
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