BLESMA (British Limbless Ex Service Men's Association) is a national charity for limbless serving and ex Servicemen and women, and their dependants and widows. The charity supports wounded Service personnel who lose limbs, the use of limbs or their eyesight in the service of their country, from World War veterans to current day Service personnel.
BLESMA is there for life-long support, which starts with rehabilitation, proving that there is 'life after amputation'. The charity also campaigns for the interests of wounded Servicemen and women and provides counselling, grants and advice to amputees wounded in the line of duty.
Help for Heroes have granted BLESMA £100,000 towards their rehabilitation work. BLESMA guarantee that they will use the money very effectively. The H4H grant will go towards funding four adventurous events for the wounded, organised by BLESMA, including a transatlantic yacht race, a ski trip to Colorado, ski bobbing in Austria and the 2009 Fastnet challenge.
BLESMA rehab is focused primarily on amputees helping amputees, referred to as the 'fellowship of shared experience'. By way of example, in November 2008, a BLESMA all-amputee crew sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to Barbados. A month later, 15 members - 10 of whom were very recent casualties - skied together in the Rocky Mountains. This was repeated in 2009 and they will now be able to offer even more to deserving wounded soldiers.
For more information on the work of BLESMA, please visit www.blesma.org.
