"Catch You On The Flip Side" - Podcast with Mark Smith
Mark had been in the army for eight years when the accident happened in 2011. He was overseeing training for a regiment on how to clear buildings in a temporary training compound made of wood.
Shots were fired towards a wall Mark was standing behind and he was hit six times in his right leg and once in his arm.
While he was being airlifted to hospital Mark flatlined several times, the longest flatline lasted for five minutes.
He made it to a hospital in Calgary, Canada, where his leg was amputated above the knees two days after the incident.
After two weeks in the Canadian hospital he was taken to a military hospital in Birmingham where was surrounded by people who helped him to refocus.
With his military career over Mark became a personal trainer, but soon realised that he needed something that was going to challenge him physically and mentally.
He soon took up body building and relished the competitive nature of the sport.
While he enjoyed bodybuilding he soon decided to push his limits even further and set himself the goal of becoming Britain's strongest disabled man, a title he eventually won twice.
After his accident Mark lost a lot of weight, dropping down to just 61 kilograms. While training for strongman competitions he weighed 120 kilograms, far more than he had ever weighed even before losing a limb.
But this came with some problems, the weight he put on while he was competing put too much strain on his leg and by 2018 it made it hard to walk.
Mark had also become very close with one of the men who saved his life in 2011, but sadly he took his own life in 2016. The impact of this loss was also weighing heavily on him.
When all of this came to the surface Mark reached out to someone in his regiment for help and credits counselling sessions with helping him to rebuild his mental health.
Mark has noticed a big change in the attitude towards mental health amongst soldiers and veterans.
Mark also plays amputee football and has represented both Peterborough United and West Bromwich Albion.
At first this was a learning curve, but he soon realised he was good at it and was voted player of the season in his first season.
Check out more of Mark below:
https://www.instagram.com/marksmith_amputee.footballer
https://www.facebook.com/Marksmithamputeefootballer
https://www.youtube.com/c/MarkSmithAmputeeFootballer
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Thanks for watching
Dan
"catch you on the flip side"