Richard Gray

Lieutenant Commander Gray, who suffers from an ongoing shoulder injury as well as cancer, has reconciled himself to the fact that his recovery journey will be a long one.

Yet he has recognised that what he can control is his mental health and believes that the Invictus Games saved him when he was at his lowest and has given him back his sense of worth.

The last two years have been tough trying to remain motivated, but he learnt a lot about himself both physically and mentally.

“l had time to reflect and realise what is important to me which is stability and time with my children, while they still are children, which drove me to retrain to become an electrician.”

He is keen to be a role model, to show others that they can do it too and achieve in the face of adversity. Lt Cdr Gray described that he gets as much pride and satisfaction from watching someone reach beyond what they thought was possible as if he were achieving it himself.

“To have my children see me wearing the Invictus team colours with all that they represent will prove to them that Daddy is the master of his destiny.

“Invictus reminded me that after all I have been through, the two most important things in my life never gave up on me, my children. I made a promise then to never give up for them. I want to find out what I can do and how hard I can push myself to be the best version of me I can be."