In May 2007, Lance Corporal Jonathon ‘Frenchie’ Le Galloudec arrived in Basra for a six-month tour of duty alongside his friend, Corporal Rodney Wilson. In the early morning of 7 June, Frenchie and Rodney's patrol was part of an arrest and detain operation in the Al Atiyah district.

During the mission they came under attack and Frenchie was shot in the spine. “Initially it just felt like I'd been hit in the back by a sledgehammer,” he recalls. “It took me completely by surprise. During the rescue attempt, Rodney ran 50 or 60 feet under heavy fire to save me. He picked me up and started dragging me to safety. When we were about 20 feet from cover, I heard a massive thud and I fell to the ground. That's when I knew Rodney had been hit.”

Tragically Rodney died instantly, making the ultimate sacrifice so that his friend might live.

Frenchie was operated on at the field hospital at Basra Air Station. The bullet had struck his spine, ripping through his gut and a kidney. Later, he was flown to Birmingham's Selly Oak hospital and then transferred to Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he stayed for nearly three months.

Despite the doctors telling him he would never walk again, Frenchie took his first wobbly steps just two months after he was shot. He remembers: “The first time I walked I was in tears, my mum was in tears, even the nurses were in tears - I just didn't think it would ever happen for me.”

"I was told that I would always be in a wheelchair so walking out of the hospital, three months later, and proving them wrong, was one of the best days of my life."

He then spent 18 months at DMRC Headley Court, where he learnt how to walk again and adjusted to life as a wounded soldier: “The beauty of Headley Court was that no matter how badly your day was going, you would see someone who had no legs or who was badly burnt and you'd realise that everyone is struggling. Ultimately, we'd give each other hope.”

It would be all too easy to sink into a dark depression and lose control of your life. However, Frenchie pushes himself to be the best he can be, feeling he owes that much to Rodney: “The only way for me to honour Rodney's memory is to live my life to the full.”

At the start of 2019, I will be joining British Armed Forces veterans and adventurers alike on a trek with Help for Heroes across a section of the Sahara Desert.

Help for Heroes rely on fundraising to rehabilitate wounded soldiers like Frenchie, please take a moment to check out my JustGiving page where you can read more about his remarkable story and share the page with family and friends.