Sailing has transformed my life

VETERAN SPENT SIX YEARS IN THE ARMY WITH BROKEN NECK AND DIDN'T KNOW IT

A PLYMOUTH Army veteran whose injuries and PTSD left him on the brink of suicide has hailed a city sailing club for transforming his life – and thanked the Health Lottery players who helped to fund it.

Roch Rochester, 58, who fought in Northern Ireland and the First Gulf War, struggled to find his place in the world after a medical discharge forced him to end a 22-year career in the Forces.

The Plymouth resident, originally from Blackhall Colliery, Durham, spent six years in the Army unaware he’d broken his neck following a misdiagnosis.

His injuries, which also included ballistic spurring to his joints, eventually left him needing to use a wheelchair.

It deprived Roch who has praised The Health Lottery for making his new sailing passion possible, of the ability to play his beloved sports.

Roch, who also served in Bosnia and is married with three daughters, said: “I didn’t want to go out and I was really struggling. Being an active person, that’s like putting a tiger in a cage. Having a world of adventure in your mind and not being able to live that is terrible. I struggled to come to terms with it.

“I used to be an alpha, and I was trying to find my place in the world again. I couldn’t see a future for me in this world and if it wasn’t for my family, I wouldn’t be speaking here today.

“Many times I parked up by a beach thinking, if I just took a long swim it would be fine, nobody would care.

“But actually people would. And there is something out there for me, but when you’re going through that dark storm you can’t see anything else apart from your own problems.”