A FORMER soldier who was seriously injured by a bomb while serving in Afghanistan is hoping to carve out a career as a motivational public speaker.
Troy Conner was 31 and in the First Battalion Parachute Regiment when the vehicle he was travelling in detonated an improvised explosive device. His three colleagues were killed, and he was left with a traumatic brain injury.
He was taken to a hospital in Kandahar where American surgeons performed an emergency craniotomy to reduce pressure on his brain. He was brought back to a military hospital in Birmingham and was in an induced coma for five weeks.
That was in 2009 and Troy, now 40, of Bluebell Close, Hoyland Common, said: “I remember the explosion and everything being blurred. I couldn’t hear anything. But then there was lots of shooting and my immediate reaction was to shoot back in the direction of where the shots were being fired from.
“I remember firing back, and my next memory is of waking up in hospital with tubes coming out of my body and being surrounded by my family.”
Troy had suffered a brain injury, a broken back, loss of sight in his right eye and shrapnel wounds. He spent the next year or so in rehabilitation and slowly but surely learned how to walk and talk and improved his memory and balance.
“It’s not all been plain sailing but I managed to get back on my feet. I started gently jogging and riding bikes. My main ambition was to get back in to the forces but I kept having epileptic seizures. I asked if I could go back but I was medically discharged in 2011. It was the end of my military career. I got very down about it.”
Troy started to contact military charities such as Help for Heroes, Royal British Legion and eventually Blesma, the charity for limbless veterans.
He says their help has been invaluable in helping him get back on his feet. He now tries to raise awareness and funds for the charity. He has completed two bike rides, and also completed a triathlon in 2016.
Tomorrow, Troy is competing in a 50km ski marathon in Finland for the Armed Forces Para Snowsport Team, and will take part in a 100-mile bike ride for Blesma in York on May 26.
But having been left living on a military pension, he is hoping to become a public speaker full-time.
He has spoken to students of all ages, and is hoping to speak at Hoyland Common Primary in May.
“My main theme is adversity and resilience. I want to go in to primary schools, corporate businesses, young offenders’ institutes top say ‘nip it in the bud’ - there are people willing to give everything for what you have.
“Not everyone is aware of the difficulties, it’s hard work.
“In the forces, it’s a close-knit community and when you come out, you lose all that.
“It’s because of some of the charities which people are not aware of, like Blesma, who are really getting us back together and giving us some goals.”
Visit justgiving.com/fundraising/troy-conner1
E-mail: troyconner@gmail.com
