Given From the Heart

This is a letter from a veteran soldier that's been treated like all other veterans are. I am sure many veterans that will read this letter will be able to see their own situation and the way they have or are being treated by the MoD. OCC

To whom it may concern,


I am a disabled ex veteran whom was injured in N.Ireland whilst serving on operations. I served approx 8 years as an infantry soldier in The Princess of Wales’s Royal regiment.


After being injured I was not correctly diagnosed and left untreated for 9 months. I collapsed at home one evening and was taken to a civilian hospital in Salisbury . After 2 weeks of exhausting and painful tests I was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis. Due to the length of time I had been left and untreated I had a 4ft clot in my right leg which ran from my big toe to a valve in a vein behind my stomach.


I was treated immediately by the staff of the NHS due to the life threatening nature of the condition. I spent a month on the ward and was unfortunate enough to contract MRSA. I survived this and in total spent around 3 more weeks on a civilian ward where I became well enough to go home. I was not visited once by any members of my unit of representatives from the British army.


I then spent 1 year on sick leave which meant blood tests twice a week and lots of physio therapy. I was told that I would inevitably lose my lower right leg as the injury was progressive due to now having no deep vein in my leg. This is a consequence to not being treated and continuing my operational commitments to the Regiment. I was medically discharged from the British army approximately 16 months after my diagnosis. I was not offered any rehabilitation or other career options due to the severity of injury.


I was awarded a war pension and a service invalidity pension as I was injured on operations. My disability was graded at over 35% at this point despite the fact that it would become worse.


On being Medically discharged I felt abandoned and somewhat bitter that I was now unemployed and homeless due to the fact that I had not been treated by the British army and the appointments I had received for medical investigations had not relayed to me as I was on operations and those operations were considered far more important.


I began a lawsuit with the MOD and after many appointments and specialist where involved I got into debt by £47k which I was liable for should I be unsuccessful at trial. The MOD went through 6-8 barristers during my 6 year battle with them. The legal aid system got to a point where they would not fund the case due to the expense and I had to pursue a no win fee claim. The MOD accepted full liability the day before trial which is usually the case with such trials. The MOD does not like this sort of thing shouted from the roof tops.


A few months after my success I was sent a letter from the pension’s agency telling me that my war pension would be reduced due to a third party claim against the MOD. Just yesterday I have been told I will now lose half of my service invalidity pension also. I cannot begin to tell you how insulted I feel by this. How many other veterans are being penalised by this same very system that was designed to help them.


I have never claimed a penny from any benefits of any form of tax relief since leaving the forces. I work full time despite being disabled and having a family to support is my drive for that.


Should I leave my job today and claim disability benefits, housing benefits, careers allowance and probably a lot more others that I don’t know about I would effectively be better off! I would love to speak to somebody about this and possibly run a story if given the opportunity. I will continue this conquest until somebody is willing to help me let the veterans and general public of this once great county know just what underhanded tactics are being dealt out.


I thank you in advance for your time.


Damian Thompson
War Pensioner