15 minute read
Local People
A life far from ordinary
Mark Ormrod was catapulted into the limelight after triggering an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Afghanistan in 2007. His story of ‘post traumatic growth’ is both extraordinary and inspirational...
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At the age of 15, Mark Ormrod found himself facing a career choice. Like many, he wasn’t sure what path to take; but he was certain that it wouldn’t see him wearing a suit! It was older friends and the inspiration of his uncle that helped him decide, and in 2001 he signed up as a Royal Marine, passing his Potential Royal Marines Course at Lympstone on his fi rst attempt. In January 2005, Mark became a father to his eldest daughter, Kezia, and decided to re-evaluate his career; after fi ve years of service, he left the Royal Marines at the end of 2005 to spend more time with his family. However, he unexpectedly separated from Kezia’s mother just a month before offi cially leaving. Essentially homeless, he spent nights in his car, sofa-surfi ng and working as a doorman to survive. He then fl ew to South Africa to retrain as a bodyguard and at the end of 2006, whilst working as a doorman for Plymouth’s Refl ex nightclub, he met Becky. “I used to see Becky and her mates a lot at Refl ex. I was really drawn to her, so I asked her out. She kept turning me down, so I told her that I would ban her and her friends from Refl ex if she didn’t go out with me!” smiles Mark. Becky, then a student living with friends in Greenbank, invited Mark around and they spent the evening talking and watching television. From there, their relationship blossomed. However, Mark was still staying in a spare room, unable to spend much time with Kezia. Keen to make Becky and Kezia proud, he re-joined the Royal Marines in March 2007. He took part in redeployment training and on 7 September 2007, he headed to Helmand. “When you arrive, there is a scramble to book your two weeks’ R&R. I liked to get the bulk of a deployment out of the way before taking my leave, so I booked mine for New Year. The plan was to spend it with Becky.”
Sadly, the New Year was vastly diff erent to the one Mark and Becky had imagined. “My section had been confi ned to camp for some time, due to others being on R&R or injured. On Christmas Eve, we were able to get out on patrol; it was then that I triggered the IED.” Mark knelt on an Anti-Personnel Mine with an attached 107mm Chinese Rocket. “Had it been upright, and not at an angle, there would have been nothing left of me but a pink cloud. It was powerful enough to take off half of a building.” Lying in a 12 foot crater, Mark found that he couldn’t move. He wasn’t in pain, but realised once the dust had settled that he had lost several limbs. He explains: “I felt an overwhelming sense of calm. I was lying there in a 12 foot crater on a high feature with mines all around me, and initially thought to myself “ At one point they classed me as dead, but a medic ‘there is no way I am getting out of here alive’. But there was no fear. I had a sense that if I closed my noticed one of my eyes fl utter eyes, I would fall asleep and I just and they brought me back. ” wouldn’t wake up; and I knew that the lads would do whatever it took to recover me. “I was tired and there was an intense sensation of pins and needles. I also remember thinking that perhaps it wasn’t my time to go. It’s hard to explain.” Mark’s comrades deployed their training calmly, allowing the on-duty medic to access him quickly. He was given morphine, stretchered out of the crater and eventually taken aboard a helicopter. “When the helicopter landed, I blacked out,” recalls Mark. “At one point they classed me as dead, but a medic noticed one of my eyes fl utter and they brought me back. “I needed fl uids through an IV, but my veins had collapsed. By pure luck, three days before my accident a new technique had been cleared to drill into the tibia and fi bula to administer fl uids. Of course, I had lost both
of those. The surgeons were able to drill into my hip to administer the fluids, which saved my life. “I was taken to Camp Bastion for surgery, where they removed the injured limbs right back to the healthy flesh. From the explosion at around midday on Christmas Eve, I was back in the UK by 4am on Christmas Day.” Becky, staying with her family in Surrey for Christmas, received the bad news from Mark’s sister; she and Mark’s family made their way to Birmingham. “At that point, they didn’t know the extent of my injuries,” says Mark. “They had initially been told I had lost a foot, then a leg, then two legs... They only realised the full extent when they arrived.” Mark spent three days in a coma and four days in a drug-induced haze, where he repeatedly ‘saw’ Will Smith wandering around his room and imagined an 8ft ketchup bottle standing in the corner! “When I came round from the coma, I couldn’t open my eyes; it felt like there were weights on them. But I could hear voices and I recognised Becky’s. I tried to speak, but I was intubated and wearing a mask. They removed those and I tried to speak. On my third attempt, Becky understood that I was asking her to marry me and she said ‘yes’.” The UK’s first triple amputee
Mark and Becky married in 2009
In the early stages of rehabilitation to survive since World War One, Mark was soon moved to a high dependency room with access to Royal Marine Welfare services. After three weeks he was told by an expert that there was zero chance he would walk again. He describes this as his lowest point, at which he felt suicidal. He was only 24. Five days later, Mark was visited by a veteran who had also lost both legs above the knee in an explosion in Iraq. Encouraged by this, he began to plan his own recovery; he had a laptop in his room and started his research. He went on to complete the first stage of his rehabilitation in just six weeks. Although his rehabilitation will essentially be lifelong and ‘every day is different’, this determined start set Mark up for the months and years ahead. He refers to ‘post traumatic growth’ as being a huge part of his recovery; he sleeps well, isn’t hindered by flashbacks and generally has a very upbeat outlook on life. Mark and Becky married on 2 May 2009, less than 18 months after Mark’s life-changing accident. Despite issues with his shoes not being suitable for his prosthetics, forgetting his arm liner and struggling on the grass at the reception in a marquee, Mark and Becky were able to fully celebrate their special day, including enjoying a first dance together.
Just a month later, he jetted off to America. “I found a chap in America with similar injuries. He was a motivational speaker, an athlete and living with no carers. He didn’t use a wheelchair. “I wasn’t given permission to go and meet him, but I went anyway as I was impatient to get on with my recovery. I spent three weeks with him and his team and haven’t used a wheelchair since the day I left the UK to visit him, 9 June 2009.” On 1 July 2010, Mark left the Royal Marines for good. He is now an athlete, author and motivational speaker. Becky works locally as a Veteran and Family Hub Manager, and together they raise their young children – Mason, 11, and Evelyn, 9 – in Plymouth. “Becky and I are like yin and yang – or rather, yin and yin!” says Mark. “We are so similar. We merge and we just work together. We spent part of lockdown delivering food parcels and iPads to veterans together at the height of Covid.” It is clear that Becky has played a huge role in her husband’s recovery and that she also offers crucial support to other veterans in the city – another example of how this family has turned a tragic accident into positive outcomes. In terms of sport, asked how he came to enter the 50m Breaststroke at the last minute at the Invictus Games, Mark smiles. “I get on well with the Australian team and their coach. My mate Gary had trained for the 50m Breaststroke, but there weren’t enough entrants Meeting Prince – it was going to be cancelled. So I Harry at the stepped up. Invictus Games “Seven minutes before the event, I was in the training pool trying to figure out how to do the stroke with only one full arm, going round in circles! Also, if I breathe out when swimming, I sink…” Somehow, Mark managed to win the race. “I felt awful afterwards,” he confides. “I asked Becky if I should throw the next race as I felt so bad for winning, but she rightly Thomas Croft’s portrait of said that Gary wouldn’t want to Mark from the BBC television series win that way.” Extraordinary Portraits Given his sporting and motivational roles, it’s no surprise that Mark has a collection of awards to his name. “Of all my awards, it’s my MBE and my Pride of Britain Award that I am probably the most proud of. “I was privileged to meet the Queen twice, but unfortunately my driver got lost ahead of our first meeting and we were slightly late. She jokingly told us off for it. She was lovely and easy to talk to, very much just like a grandmother.” Mark has met many members of the Royal family and embraces new opportunities with gusto. His life has altered significantly, but he whole-heartedly embraces those changes. As he says in his book, Man Down: “The injuries I sustained in Afghanistan changed my life, but they do not define it. What defines my life is the meaning I have chosen to attach to what happened to me, to the positive lessons I learned along the way and the growth I have experienced.”n
The sky’s the limit once you’ve tackled the roof!
With two thriving gyms located in Estover and Plympton, Wayne and Katie Child are a dynamic duo with an inspirational outlook on life.
Wayne and Katie have spent years building their Gym Bubbas brand, having moved down from London in 2009. Originally from Plymouth, Katie returned home in the summer of 2009 to support her parents when her father was suff ering with terminal lung cancer. Sadly, her dad passed away in early September 2009, just one month after Wayne and Katie got married. Wayne initially stayed in London to work, travelling down at weekends to support Katie. He moved to Plymouth shortly after, working as an Estate Agent and then as a driver for DHL, whilst they lived with Katie’s mum. Katie, meanwhile, gave birth to the couple’s fi rst child, Austin, in early 2010 and pressed ahead with plans to launch her own gymnastics business; having been a 10m British Diving Champion and taught gymnastics prior to leaving London, her dream was to own her own gym. Gym Bubbas began on the tennis courts of the Devonshire Health and Racquets Club, off ering preschool classes three days per week. Just a year later, it moved to Morgan’s Wellbeing Centre. There was no space to store equipment on site, so the couple began their days early and fi nished late in order to shift the equipment. “We’d wake up at 6am and hear the rain outside, knowing that we’d have to move everything,” says Katie. “Then, at the end of a long day, we’d have to get it back into storage and dry it all off ! We did it for two years...” Wayne and Katie took on their fi rst unit, in Estover, in 2014. It wasn’t an easy transition, with just 12 weeks to obtain planning permission and transform the site. “I basically moved in!” says Wayne. “I stayed overnight in the van so that I could get on with it; time was tight.” Once open, Wayne focussed on branding whilst Katie devised lesson plans, and for the fi rst time Wayne was also leading some coaching. “I have a background as a water sports coach and also do some competitive sailing, so I am sporty – but I suddenly had to lead gymnastics classes rather then just supporting!” says Wayne. In 2018, Wayne was convinced to look at a unit in Match Mill Business Park, Plympton. Estover was thriving and they were looking for a second location. “It had a small offi ce space, a kitchen area and a disabled toilet. The rest was derelict; there wasn’t even a complete roof!” says Wayne. Yet he was sold on it. A huge refurbishment began, with the couple undertaking a chunk of the work themselves despite Katie being pregnant with their second child and worrying the contractors by getting too involved on site! Gym Bubbas opened in Plympton in February 2019; baby Betsy arrived in March. Having still been doing handstands at 9 months pregnant, Katie was back in her natural gym habitat within days – Betsy in tow. The gyms appeared to ‘be on a really good roll’, and by the end of 2019 Gym Bubbas had a staff of 16. Yet as a former Estate Agent, Wayne took an interest in the economic markets; as 2020 got underway, he noticed that things were beginning to change. Something was wrong... A new, unprecedented challenge was coming and it was about to hit businesses across the world.
The Gym Bubbas team watched Boris Johnson’s March with the passion and energy that they’re known for. They 2020 announcement together at the Plympton gym. “We developed Covid-safe systems, which included a method had already taken the decision to close a week prior to to sanitise the gyms within just fi ve minutes using a fogger. the lockdown announcement,” says Katie. “Cancellations The biggest hurdle was how to teach, as there was no were coming in fast after we had been told to limit non- guidance given to gymnastics centres unless they were essential contact; it wasn’t feasible to stay open. registered as a British Gymnastics Club. “On the evening of the fi rst lockdown announcement, “I was angry,” says Wayne. “To tell us we could open but our kids played in the gym not give us the relevant safety whilst staff sat around a table to listen. Afterwards, Wayne and I shared the “ We started making fun little videos for families at home to enjoy. We hoped guidance was unacceptable and I was very vocal about that. British Gymnastics business bank balance with staff and asked them the it would make them smile. ” revoked my membership as a result! But we developed minimum amount that they our own Covid-safe systems needed each month to get and shared them with others, by. which resulted in some great “We developed a collaborations with franchises contingency plan that would of Gymboree UK.” support us and our staff for Looking ahead, the couple fi ve months. This was prior are currently working on to announcements about Ball Bubbas, held at Marjon fi nancial support, so we did in collaboration with the breathe a sign of relief when Plymouth City Patriots funding came through.” Basketball Club. Aimed Having started up their at children aged two to six Estover site in a recession, years, Ball Bubbas focusses Wayne and Katie had learnt plenty about fi nancial on ball handling skills that give children the foundations management. They stopped all non-essential payments for playing basketball, football, tennis etc. and focussed on well-being. And after that? “Sometimes the worst situations bring out the best in “We’re looking at a new gym!” says Katie. “It will people,” says Katie. “We started making fun little videos possibly be up towards Exeter and will hopefully be for families at home to enjoy. We hoped it would make a franchise, which is the next stage in our business them smile. Our staff then delivered classes live from development. home; rolled up towels became beams, sofa cushions “Covid was awful, but on the bright side, it allowed us to became fl oor mats…Our main problem was our feral cat! take stock. We’ve always said that we never want to just If we got on the fl oor, she would try and bite us!” sit still – we always want to be doing more. So watch this “To be honest, the second lockdown was harder as we space for gym number three!” Let’s hope, for their both got Covid,” adds Wayne. sake, that it has a roof... n When classes re-started, they tackled new challenges Joanne Mallard
