Inspired into action

Cara Shaw and ten friends will set out tomorrow (Saturday) from Kineton to Warwick, stopping at Leamington, to make collections in aid of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

The hospital had treated Sapper Jack Holmes, a friend of the family who had only 19 days left to serve in Afghanistan when his 
vehicle hit a landmine.

The 21-year-old lost both his legs in the explosion but has since learned to walk again - on ‘blades’ similar to those worn by Paralympian Oscar Pistorius - and has married and become a father for the second time.

Cara said: “It’s a large unit but it doesn’t get much publicity.

“It inspired me a lot because of how much they helped Jack and how much his life has gone back to 
normal.”

Cara is a member of Kineton Army Cadets and both her parents served in the Royal Ordnance Corps. She plans to join the army herself.

The walk will take Cara and her friends 16 miles across Warwickshire. Although she has raised money for charity in the past, this is the first event Cara has organised herself.

She added: “I’m really nervous but I’m really 
excited.”

Mike Hammond, chief executive of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity, said: “We’re really grateful to Cara and her friends for doing this walk to raise funds for military patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

“We see horrific injuries from the battlefield, but increasingly soldiers are surviving from the type of damage that would have killed them five or six years ago. The funds raised by Cara will help us support troops and their families, providing those added extras that make such a difference when you are in hospital.”