Military veteran Jack Cummings lost both his legs ten years ago in Afghanistan and since he has plunged into sport and become a mental health public speaker.
Mr Cummings, 32 lives in Didcot with his wife Sarah. He went to St Birinus School and at the age of 16 he followed in his father’s footsteps and left home to join the military as Royal Engineer.
He had two tours in Afghanistan one in the winter of 2007 and the second in the summer of 2010. In 40-degree heat and sweating buckets Mr Cummings worked as part of a bomb disposal team, using metal detectors the team were able to locate the bombs.
However, over time the bombs started to be made with less metal making them harder to find and one day Mr Cummings lost both his legs to an IED.
Mr Cummings said: “The IED had no metal in it, I missed it and all hell broke loose. I woke up a month later without knowing what had gone on. I can’t actually remember the day which is a bit of a blessing for me.”
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The rehabilitation process was hard and after spending five months in a hospital bed Mr Cummings had to start with the basics. He learnt how to use a wheelchair, take a shower, and drive a car and eventually he learnt to swim and do circuit training.
In 2017 he married his wife Sarah who gave him the motivation to get training again. Plunging himself into sport Mr Cummings won a Bronze medal in swimming at the Invictus Games in 2017 and he completed the London Marathon wheelchair race the following year.
Mr Cummings is a member of Blesma, a charity for limbless veterans where he is a public speaker. He recently met NASA Astronaut Steve Swanson when he appeared on the Resilience Sessions podcast -which bring together members of Blesma and public figures to talk about meeting challenges and overcoming adversity.
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