Gary Prout

Gary Prout CGC, who serves with the Royal Artillery, is from Northern Ireland but currently lives in Tidworth. He has suffered several injuries during his career, but the most recent and potentially worst happened in 2013 when he was training in Scotland and his leg snapped underneath him. “This was particularly bad timing as I was getting married four weeks later!”

The road to recovery after this included having a metal plate inserted into his leg to stabilise it and then this was removed again 8 weeks later as this was deemed his best chance of recovery. Soon after this Gary was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome in his right leg as a result of his injury.

Gary says; “I was very fortunate to get diagnosed early on, as this heightens the chances of recovery. The McGill pain scale (used for measuring pain) varies from 1 to 50 and CRPS scores 47, it's very debilitating.”

Gary’s road to recovery has involved him using the state-of-the-art facilities at the Help for Heroes run Recovery Centre at Catterick and he has also spent the past eight months receiving rehabilitation at Headley Court.

“Whilst at Headley Court I have been using the excellent gym facilities that Help for Heroes provided a large amount of the funding for. I was there after a previous injury in 2009 before the Help for Heroes grant was given and the difference today is amazing!”

Gary is also involved with Battleback, an MoD initiative funded by Help for Heroes. “Through Battleback I have been able to try out climbing and get back into archery – a sport that I loved before my injuries . I really hope to continue improving my shooting after the Invictus Games and one day I aim to be part of the Archery Team for the Paralympics.”