Solider vows to beat blast injuries
A Newark soldier who has suffered horrific leg injuries in an explosion in Afghanistan is determined to recover in time to walk down the aisle to marry his fiancee.
Lance Sergeant Nathan Cumberland (25) of the Grenadier Guards was on foot patrol when an Improvised Explosive Device exploded.
Lance Sergeant Cumberland will endure months of rehabilitation.
He is in Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, where injured troops are treated.
His fiancee, Miss Rachael Cryer, of Long Bennington, his father, Mr Steve Cumberland (49) of Wolsey Road, Newark, and his mother, Karen Cumberland, of Grantham, have been with him this week.
Mr Cumberland said his son was a very professional soldier.
“He thinks of it as an accident that happened while he was doing his job,” said Mr Cumberland.
“He is doing well. I am really proud of him. He is very brave.”
Mr Cumberland said he believed British forces should not be in Afghanistan.
“It’s not just because of what has happened to Nathan. I don’t think they should be there in the first place,” he said.
Lance Sergeant Cumberland’s step-mother, Mrs Tracy Cumberland (40) said he had already said he was determined to walk down the aisle at his wedding to Miss Cryer in October next year.
Mrs Cumberland said: “I could not be more proud of him. He’s an amazing lad.”
“He is the sort of person who won’t feel sorry for himself and won’t let it hold him back.
“If anything, his strength will keep us going.”
Mr and Mrs Cumberland were at home when MoD officials knocked on the door at 2pm last Wednesday.
Mrs Cumberland, who opened the door, said: “As soon as they said ‘Mr and Mrs Cumberland’ I just knew something wasn’t right.
“Steve could hear from the kitchen and said ‘oh no’ before they even said where they were from.
“They explained there had been an incident in Afghanistan and Nathan was in theatre but were very sketchy on details.
“We heard the words ‘he’s alive’ and the rest was irrelevant.”
They broke the news to Miss Cryer, who is 24 tomorrow, and Karen Cumberland.
Mr and Mrs Cumberland, Miss Cryer, Karen Cumberland and her partner, Mr Rod Harrison, were taken by the MoD to see Lance Sergeant Cumberland after he arrived at Selly Oak on Friday.
Mrs Cumberland said: “We didn’t know what to expect when we walked into the critical care unit.
“He was sitting up in bed and just looked like the same joker and was full of high spirits. I wasn’t expecting that.”
Mrs Cumberland said they had been told his recovery could take up to 18 months.
She said Lance Sergeant Cumberland would be home for a break before going to Headley Court Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre in Surrey.
“It is one day at a time,” she said.
Lance Sergeant Cumberland has been moved out of the critical care unit on to a ward.
“He will start off at the far end of the room and each week as he gets better he will move nearer to the door,” said Mrs Cumberland.
“When you are near the door you know you are nearly on your way home.
“That is our main goal now — to get to that door.”
Mrs Cumberland said she wanted people to realise how many soldiers were being injured in Afghanistan.
“You think it is a rarity but it’s not. You hear about the deaths but you don’t hear about the ones who are injured.
“The morale among the lads there is so high and they help each other.
“We have met so many remarkable people.”
Lance Sergeant Cumberland, a former Newark High School pupil, left Newark and Sherwood College in 2003 and worked as an apprentice electrician before joining the Army.
He completed his infantry training in Catterick, North Yorkshire, in 2004 and received an award for the best recruit in his platoon at the passing out parade.
He was based at Wellington Barracks in London and undertook ceremonial and guard duties such as Trooping The Colour and guarding Buckingham Palace.
Lance Sergeant Cumberland’s latest tour was his third in Afghanistan.
He returned home 11 weeks into a six-month tour in 2006 when he broke his right leg during a training exercise.
He spent three months in rehabilitation.
In March 2007 he was chosen to go to Afghanistan with the Brigade Reconnaissance Force, a specialist unit within the Grenadier Guards.
