Hi,

I'm Captain Ibrar Ali, a serving officer with The Yorkshire Regiment, an Infantry regiment in the British Army.  Whilst serving in Iraq in 2007 I was seriously injured by a roadside bomb. Having my right arm amputated below the elbow was a life changing injury, but with the help of BLESMA I was able to continue doing the job I love. I have benefited greatly from the help I received from BLESMA and it was due to this help, and the support of my family that I was able to return to Iraq in 2008 and am right now serving in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

As well as assisting soldiers with coming to terms with their injuries, BLESMA also organise adventure training and rehabilitation events such as skiing, white water rafting, parachuting and many more. These activities put us in contact with others who have lost limbs and together we work to regain the confidence to physically push ourselves again and learn ways to adapt and overcome our injuries. They also provide valuable time away to gain fresh pespective when times are hard. These events all come at no cost to the BLESMA members, but obviously do cost the charity quite a lot of money.

Unfortunately, as the tempo of operations has increased in Afghanistan, so has the number of soldiers losing limbs and receiving life changing injuries. There are a number of fantastic charities that assist our Armed Forces, but this is the one that I feel can have the most effect for those soldiers seriously injured, whether serving in a conflict zone or not.

I have managed to convince 3 others to join me in completing the NY Marathon, one of whom is my Commanding Officer! My CO and I will be training whilst deployed to Helmand this Summer and if all goes well, we should fly almost direct from Afghanistan to the start line in New York on the 4th of November!

Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Ibi, Zac, Sarah and Emma.