Soldier hit by IED determined to walk fiancée down aisle

A soldier whose leg was shattered by an IED has said he is looking forward to walking his fiancée down the aisle with a "new spring in his step".

Ben Bainbridge was badly injured when an improvised explosive device detonated in Afghanistan in 2010.

The soldier, who was 18 at the time, later spent months in rehabilitation learning to walk again.

More recently he was given a customised leg brace, which he said has made a huge difference to his mobility.

Mr Bainbridge, now 30 and from East Yorkshire, is due to get married to Steph Dunn in January.

He said: "I'm determined to walk her down the aisle and be looked at for the right reasons.

"I'm nervous I think, but more excited - knowing I'm going to spend the rest of my life with a woman who has been there for me through thick and thin."

Describing the aftermath of the attack, Mr Bainbridge, who was on patrol with the Yorkshire Regiment in Helmand Province, said he was left in "excruciating pain", and was initially told he could lose both legs.

"I didn't want to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life," he said.

However, medics managed to take a vein out of his right leg and put it into his more badly damaged left leg to maintain the blood flow long enough to allow the limb to be saved.

Within 48 hours he was being treated in intensive care at Birmingham's Selly Oak Hospital, before continuing his rehabilitation at Headley Court, in Surrey.

Mr Bainbridge said the nerve damage to his leg sometimes left him struggling to walk, and the new customised brace - funded by Help for Heroes - helped to keep his foot in position.

"It literally has put in a spring in my step," he said.

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