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05-26-2004, 06:09 AM
Link http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/05/26/nmar26.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/05/26/ixnewstop.html
Captain has his leg amputated to stay in Marines
By Richard Savill
(Filed: 26/05/2004)
A Royal Marines officer who was badly injured in a 1,000ft climbing fall has become the first Commando to return to operational service with an artificial leg after he asked doctors to amputate his limb.
Capt Jim Bonney, 26, faced having to leave the Royal Marines and the loss of an active life, including a love of canoeing and climbing, after the fall while on an adventure training exercise in Alaska three years ago.
Fighting fit: Capt Jim Bonney completed the annual combat fitness test, with 25kg pack, in under two hours
After various operations his right ankle had degenerated to an extent that further surgery would have meant fusing his foot and removing all movement.
When he realised his life would be greatly enhanced with a prosthetic leg he told doctors to remove his real one below the knee. Following the surgery, he has fought back to full fitness and has resumed the military career he chose when he was a boy.
Capt Bonney, who is married to Kirsty, 28, a trainee doctor, and has a four-month-old son Zak, is due to go on a landing craft officers' course in September. He is expected to specialise as an officer responsible for planning and co-ordinating the deployment of one of the Royal Marines raiding squadrons.
"I've got my life back," Capt Bonney said yesterday at the Royal Marines Commando Training Centre at Lympstone, Devon, where he has undergone intensive rehabilitation. "It has been worth all the effort.
"When I had the accident I thought like any Royal Marine it was a broken ankle and it would mend. But it became clear over time that it was more complicated than that.
"The reality was that my ankle was destroyed. It was never going to work properly. I was going to have to have it fused and fixed at 90 degrees.
"I went to my wife and told her my ankle was in bits and it was not going to get any better. I had come to the end of the road. There were lots of tears. We did a lot of research and decided amputation was the way forward.
"Doctors took more persuading because it is not every day that a surgeon is asked by someone in his mid-20s to have his leg cut off."
Capt Bonney said he had wanted to be a Royal Marine since the age of 12, when his grandfather took him to a Commando museum.
"Throughout my life I haven't looked at anything else," he said. "It hasn't been an easy journey but any Royal Marine would have reacted in the same way as I have. It is the way we do things. We have an ability to get through problems. The journey has required determination and focus. The banter in the Royal Marines has kept me going at times. Climbing and canoeing are the things that make me tick and I faced losing them."
Capt Bonney said the part played by his wife, whom he married two years ago between the accident and the amputation, had been "pivotal". "It is difficult to overstate the amount of support she has given."
Mrs Bonney said: "Initially I was just glad he was alive. As time went on it was obvious that it wasn't getting any better. We couldn't even walk hand in hand because he was reliant on crutches.
"I knew that if he set his mind to getting his life back as an amputee he would do it."
The operation was carried out in December 2002 and 14 months later Capt Bonney, from Petersfield, Hants, passed the annual combat fitness test. He completed an eight-mile run in boots and full kit, including 25kg in a bergen rucksack, in one hour 53 minutes. Royal Marines have to do it in two hours.
In April he took part in a 24-hour canoe race over 125 miles that involved lifting his kayak around 79 hazards.
Since his operation, Capt Bonney has been in charge of recruits injured in training.
Lt Col Nick Arding, Royal Marines Commanding Officer at Lympstone, said: "Capt Bonney epitomises the qualities expected of a Royal Marines Commando.
"His drive and will have been inspirational not only to injured recruits under his command but to all ranks under training."
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2004/05/26/nmar26.jpg
Fighting fit: Capt Jim Bonney completed the annual combat fitness test, with 25kg pack, in under two hours
Captain has his leg amputated to stay in Marines
By Richard Savill
(Filed: 26/05/2004)
A Royal Marines officer who was badly injured in a 1,000ft climbing fall has become the first Commando to return to operational service with an artificial leg after he asked doctors to amputate his limb.
Capt Jim Bonney, 26, faced having to leave the Royal Marines and the loss of an active life, including a love of canoeing and climbing, after the fall while on an adventure training exercise in Alaska three years ago.
Fighting fit: Capt Jim Bonney completed the annual combat fitness test, with 25kg pack, in under two hours
After various operations his right ankle had degenerated to an extent that further surgery would have meant fusing his foot and removing all movement.
When he realised his life would be greatly enhanced with a prosthetic leg he told doctors to remove his real one below the knee. Following the surgery, he has fought back to full fitness and has resumed the military career he chose when he was a boy.
Capt Bonney, who is married to Kirsty, 28, a trainee doctor, and has a four-month-old son Zak, is due to go on a landing craft officers' course in September. He is expected to specialise as an officer responsible for planning and co-ordinating the deployment of one of the Royal Marines raiding squadrons.
"I've got my life back," Capt Bonney said yesterday at the Royal Marines Commando Training Centre at Lympstone, Devon, where he has undergone intensive rehabilitation. "It has been worth all the effort.
"When I had the accident I thought like any Royal Marine it was a broken ankle and it would mend. But it became clear over time that it was more complicated than that.
"The reality was that my ankle was destroyed. It was never going to work properly. I was going to have to have it fused and fixed at 90 degrees.
"I went to my wife and told her my ankle was in bits and it was not going to get any better. I had come to the end of the road. There were lots of tears. We did a lot of research and decided amputation was the way forward.
"Doctors took more persuading because it is not every day that a surgeon is asked by someone in his mid-20s to have his leg cut off."
Capt Bonney said he had wanted to be a Royal Marine since the age of 12, when his grandfather took him to a Commando museum.
"Throughout my life I haven't looked at anything else," he said. "It hasn't been an easy journey but any Royal Marine would have reacted in the same way as I have. It is the way we do things. We have an ability to get through problems. The journey has required determination and focus. The banter in the Royal Marines has kept me going at times. Climbing and canoeing are the things that make me tick and I faced losing them."
Capt Bonney said the part played by his wife, whom he married two years ago between the accident and the amputation, had been "pivotal". "It is difficult to overstate the amount of support she has given."
Mrs Bonney said: "Initially I was just glad he was alive. As time went on it was obvious that it wasn't getting any better. We couldn't even walk hand in hand because he was reliant on crutches.
"I knew that if he set his mind to getting his life back as an amputee he would do it."
The operation was carried out in December 2002 and 14 months later Capt Bonney, from Petersfield, Hants, passed the annual combat fitness test. He completed an eight-mile run in boots and full kit, including 25kg in a bergen rucksack, in one hour 53 minutes. Royal Marines have to do it in two hours.
In April he took part in a 24-hour canoe race over 125 miles that involved lifting his kayak around 79 hazards.
Since his operation, Capt Bonney has been in charge of recruits injured in training.
Lt Col Nick Arding, Royal Marines Commanding Officer at Lympstone, said: "Capt Bonney epitomises the qualities expected of a Royal Marines Commando.
"His drive and will have been inspirational not only to injured recruits under his command but to all ranks under training."
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2004/05/26/nmar26.jpg
Fighting fit: Capt Jim Bonney completed the annual combat fitness test, with 25kg pack, in under two hours