A war veteran who feared he would never become a dad after being paralysed from the waist down during a fierce firefight with the Taliban is looking forward to Father's Day - with his three daughters.
Tony Williams was 26 when he was shot while serving as a British Army nurse in Afghanistan in 2010. The St Helens man was flown back to the UK and was in a coma for six days as doctors battled to save his life, performing 36 gruelling hours of surgery.
He said: “A bullet hit my left hip, tore through my abdomen, and hit my spine. The pain was excruciating. As a nurse, I knew I was dying.
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“When I woke up, I was told I wasn’t going to walk again and that I had pretty much zero chance of having kids.”
But four years later, in 2014, he became the proud father to his first child, Holly. He said: “I cried with joy. It was the best feeling ever.”
This was followed in 2016 by the birth of his second child, Ellena. In 2019 he met his partner, Maria, and became stepfather to her daughter Sophie. When he began suffering from spasms as a result of his war injury, he considered having his leg amputated so he could spend more time with his girls.
He said: “I began to believe I was able to achieve more. My daughters gave me even more determination.
“My daughters were witnessing me in pain and unable to move easily which upset them. Seeing their loved one in such a state was hard and it being due to my injuries was more of a concern to me than my condition.”
In desperation, he turned to Help for Heroes, which provided a leg brace and physiotherapy to help with his walking.
He said: “The leg brace has given me 42% more mobility. The support Help for Heroes has given me, and my family, has meant not only do I still have my leg, but we have a much better quality of life as a family.”
To show his appreciation, Tony, now 39, walked 13 miles with his family raising over £1,500 for the charity, which has just launched The Veterans War campaign aimed at supporting ex-servicemen and women.
He said: “I am now really active in the gym and have lost more than a stone in weight. More importantly though, my long-term health and supporting muscles around my leg are stronger and more robust, with less weight being put through the paralysed limb.
“I’m now able to be the father I want to be.”
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