Luke's Story

[SeanFoley]

Posted with kind permission of Joe and THMF.

The Mob, via Genting, generously gave me a signed Aston Villa footall shirt several months ago for a prize in a privately run poker league on Genting. Last night, the shirt was won and the winner duly donated the shirt to the following cause:


The talkingbowls.com forum (an affiliate of THMF/Genting) comp is being held at Cradley Sports and Social on Monday May 7th 2012 and will this year be raising money for Luke Hemming. Luke is a friend's younger brother who celebrated his 21st birthday on 20th December in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.


Here is Luke’s story………


Luke joined the army in January 2009, he trained at Catterick for 10 months where he proudly passed out, he was then sent to his barracks in Belfast where he joined the 2 Mercian Regiment. Whilst here he went on many training expeditions including a 6 week stay in Kenya to prepare himself for the terrain he would be in when he was deployed to Afghanistan.

Whilst in Belfast he was a typical squaddie…..out drinking, dancing and would pull the odd girl…he was a jack the lad, a lovable rogue and a boy
that once you met you would never forget him!




On Saturday 1st October Luke was deployed to Afghanistan where he would start his first tour “Operation Herrick 15” the purpose of this tour was to give freedom to the people of Nad E Ali and clear the province of Taliban rule.

Whilst on foot patrol on the 9th November Luke unfortunately trod on an IED (improvised explosive device) and was severely injured. He was immediately flown to Camp Bastion to receive medical care that would save his life. Whilst in surgery the medics decided to amputate both his legs…his left completely including the hip and his right very high up. The medical team at Camp Bastion took this radical action because Luke lost most of his legs in the blast and they needed to prevent any infection which could cause him to die. He also sustained a shattered pelvis, broken wrist, a “shark bite” out of his left arm and also lost his wedding finger.

Within 24 hours of this happening he was flown back to the UK on a C-17 Aeromed plane and was sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where he was then placed on a life support machine where he would be for the next 10 days. Luke finally woke from his coma on Saturday 19th, he was advised of his injuries by the military doctors who have been looking after him, and was told that he should be able to lead a normal life but with a lot of modifications to his day to day routine.

Fundraising is needed to be able to provide Luke the best in terms of equipment that he will need once he returns home and out of rehabilitation.
The details of the equipment Luke will require is rather vague at the moment and this will only become clear as he grows in strength in hospital and at the rehabilitation home once out of hospital which is estimated to be within the next 9 months. Luke will require a custom built wheelchair and there is a possibility that he may need to be flown to America for state of the art prosthetic legs. Due to the nature of the injuries that Luke has suffered the options of prosthetics available are limited and the Army already know that they may struggle to be able to provide Luke with legs that actually fit him and support his mobility. They are going to cost in the region of £100,000.

The specialists at the hospital have advised the family to open a trust savings account for Luke as the donations and fund raising events have already started. The trust account is called Luke’s Fund.

This is something really close to my friends &family and the money raised by talking bowls will go straight to Luke’s account. Luke has been an
inspiration with his fight for recovery so far, his sense of humour still
there as you will see from the photographs.

Top sporting stars have donated signed football shirts, signed darts shirts,
And there will be an auction of these soon to raise money for him.
Prince Charles paid Luke a visit at Christmas and also Stevie Bull.




Thanks for reading
The auction for the signed Aston Villa shirt is on Friday 23rd March along with the following...

2 Tickets to Villa game of choice

Signed Jolian Lescot England Shirt

Signed Bob Taylor Poppy Day Tee Shirt

London Wasps signed Tee shirt

Signed Jon Bon Jovi Tee Shirt

Signed Shakira Tee Shirt

Signed Wolves Shirt (no certificate of authenticity)

Signed Wayne Rooney England Shirt

Signed West Bromwich Albion Shirt (With certificate of authenticity)

Printed Liverpool FC team shot 2011/2012 season

Signed Bolton Wanderers Shirt

Signed Duncan Goodhew Gold Medallist Olympic Winner shirt

Signed Surrey County Cricket Shirt

Signed Alan Hansen Mini Wembley Ball

Signed Jimmy White Picture

Signed 1st Team and Management Aberdeen Shirt

Signed Roberto Mancini picture (framed)

Signed Arsenal Ball

4 VIP tickets to Hard Rock Café London

4 Tickets to London Wasps v Gloucester (1st April 2012)

2 tickets to England v West Indies @ The Oval (19th June 2012)

Signed and framed Gold medallist Olympic winner Rebecca Addlington Tee Shirt

If any members would like to make a bid or a donation please can you let me know either via the thread or pm, all help would obviously be greatly appreciated by Luke and his family. Thanks again for taking the time to read Hendonites .
_________________
'Impatience for victory only guarantees defeat' - Louis XIV

[WBPP]

Best of luck with this.

I think it's disgusting that he needs to do this and isn't being looked after by the Govt.

I will have a word with a mate of mine who is a Villa fan and try to get the ball rolling.

What is meant by VIP for the Hard Rock cafe london tickets?

Let me know and i'll make a bid cheers and good luck again.
_________________
Nobody likes Grasses

[Indestructible]

Interested in a few of these depending on price. Are there any reserve prices and any way of monitoring the latest bids?

[SeanFoley]

Will get back to you asap regarding the above questions chaps, thanks for your interest and support
_________________
'Impatience for victory only guarantees defeat' - Louis XIV

[Padge]

Thanks for the interest ......The vip tickets for Rock Cafe include a 3 course meal and we have a bid of £50.01 so far.

[WBPP]

[SeanFoley]

[Padge]

Thanks for the bid WBPP......x It also includes all non alcoholic drinks for 4 people.

[tjm8]

Best of luck to Luke and his family.

Gary, I will be playing 3 live poker events this weekend and will donate 20% of any cashes to bid on one of the items (if it doesn't win, I will send it as a straight donation).

If I don't cash in any, I will pm you next week asking where I can send a donation.

[SeanFoley]

Top man Tony
'A' Team personified
Hope your trip went well mate.
_________________
'Impatience for victory only guarantees defeat' - Louis XIV

[Padge]

Thank you so much Tony....bid for Rock Cafe tickets now gone up to £115

[oneshotbob]

Not quite in the same league as the above donations but Joe should be shipping you $10 from my quiz win on the cash tables tonight.

Edit: Hendon mob supprt too efficient - will have to donate separately.

[penko910]

Great cause, well done to those who have donated, and to all those who have bid so far, lets get it as big as we can.

I'd like to make a donation if you could let me know were I can donate, I'll let try to spread the word as much as I can help to raise awareness for the campaign.

[Padge]

I will put the paypal link on here later today.........so far we have raised around £15,000 with more fundraising events to come. Thank you all for your support.

[Padge]

Go to PayPal and click send money and then enter helpinglukehemming@hotmail.co.uk x