From Afghanistan to Adaptive Grand Slam with Martin Hewitt

‘If one has support, drive and determination, a debilitating injury should not stop you from reaching your goals'.

In this episode, Will chats to Martin Hewitt about his journey from surviving a serious bullet wound with catastrophic arterial bleeding on the battlefield in Afghanistan, to waking up in a hospital in Birmingham the next day, faced with having to rebuild his life.

Martin refocused his energy into sport and adventure, and has competed as an elite level skier and set up the Adaptive Grand Slam (AGS), which provides opportunities to people with disabilities to participate in extraordinary physical challenges.

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The pair discuss the enormous mental battle Martin faced when coming to terms with his life-changing injury. From learning to write and tie his shoes, to considering the world of work, Martin talks us through his process and the measures he took to avoid being consumed by his emotions.

They also explore the highs of Martin's journey, which has included captaining the military disabled ski team, as well as representing Team GB at the World Championships.

Will and Martin also discuss a whole host of other topics, including some of the big hits Martin’s body has taken during his adaptive skiing career, the unique challenges presented to disabled climbers in high altitude mountaineering such as stump management and preventing frostbite in the damaged limb and how the joy of facilitating a team mate to get to Everest Base Camp was far greater than any personal 8,000 metre summit.

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Adaptive Grand Slam (founded 2013) is a registered charity, facilitating world record attempts, world first events and extreme challenges undertaken by members of the disabled community including wounded ex-servicemen.

Find out more here > http://www.adaptivegrandslam.com