Sergeant Sutcliffe, from Peterborough, joined the army at 17, becoming a member of 2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment, known as The Poachers (part of the Desert Rats). He worked in Cyprus, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland and Sierra Leone and was then posted to Iraq in 2006.
After he lost his leg in combat, two goals helped him through the long months of recovery: “I wanted to walk again and get back into uniform because they’re the things I did before,” he says. With expert care and hard work, he has achieved both.
The incident
On July 18 2006, Sergeant Sutcliffe was on foot patrol in Basra when a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) was fired at him. An RPG is an anti-armour weapon, primed to detonate on hard impact.
“The RPG hit me directly in the back of the lower left leg and took the leg clean off,” says Sergeant Sutcliffe. “Luckily, it didn’t detonate. As I fell backwards on to the ground I saw my boot flying through the air with my foot, so I knew it had gone.”
The troops scrambled to give Sergeant Sutcliffe morphine and apply a tourniquet. “I remember seeing my sergeant stopping the bleeding with his hands before the tourniquet was put on. He saved my life,” says Sergeant Sutcliffe.
After three days in critical care at the field hospital in Iraq, he was evacuated to the UK.
On the ward
Sergeant Sutcliffe’s arrival at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham was the start of a four-month stay. “My parents came into the ward shortly after I arrived and it was really good to have that first contact with them,” he says.
There were other injured service personnel on the ward, and a military liaison officer visited daily to make sure they and their families were looked after. “The military presence on the ward was massively important,” says Sergeant Sutcliffe.
“I needed someone in uniform who I could relate to and have a laugh with; people who knew what I'd been through.”
Sergeant Sutcliffe had nine operations to save as much of his leg as possible. Dedicated care and support from the medical staff and from his family and friends helped him rebuild his physical and psychological health.
During his time in hospital, he experienced flashbacks and nightmares. He saw the attack as though it was on film. “I would see the RPG hit me in the back and detonate on my body armour. I’d wake up screaming,” he says. “It wasn’t nice. But I was offered all the help I needed.”
After psychological assessments he was judged to be well. “It’s natural to have flashbacks and they started to subside,” he says. “I don’t have them at all now.”
Learning to walk again
In November 2006, Sergeant Sutcliffe moved to Headley Court, a military rehabilitation centre in Surrey. Headley Court has a special limb-fitting centre where a prosthesis can be carved to fit a patient’s stump almost perfectly.
Sergeant Sutcliffe's amputation is through the knee. “Functionally, a through-the-knee amputation is better than above-the-knee because you’ve got a longer stump,” he explains. “This gives you better walking ability and you can bear weight on it.”
With the physical challenges of surgery behind him, he put all his determination into walking again. At first it felt strange having a prosthesis. “It was hard. You're learning to walk all over again and putting your trust in a piece of metal,” he says.
Despite this, Sergeant Sutcliffe achieved his goal of walking out of Headley Court for the Christmas holiday. “I was on crutches and all over the place but I was walking,” he says. “My parents had dropped me off in a wheelchair four weeks earlier, and the next time they saw me I was on my feet. It felt so good.”
Walking with a prosthesis is now second nature. “I can’t remember what it’s like to walk with two legs.”
Swimming, skiing and back to work
Sergeant Sutcliffe spent four months at Headley Court, learning walking techniques and working hard at physiotherapy, such as swimming, to regain his fitness. Soon he progressed from two crutches to one. “That’s when I realised things were really going to get better,” he says.
By June 2007, nearly a year after his injury, he was able to walk without a walking stick.
Headley Court's limb-fitting centre offers top-of-the-range prostheses, and Sergeant Sutcliffe now has five: two walking legs, one running leg, one shower leg and one skiing leg.
“I’m still working on my running technique,” he says. “I’ve been skiing twice to Colorado with the British Limbless Ex-Service Men’s Association (BLESMA) and that was awesome. I fell over a lot and I’m not showing the same finesse I used to on the piste but I get down one way or another.”
He is now at ease with his prosthetic leg and is used to the attention he sometimes gets. “I don’t mind people looking because that’s human nature," he says.
"Kids make me laugh. I’ll be pushing a trolley in the supermarket and a little kid will ask her mum why I’ve got a metal leg, and her mum will say 'Shh!', but I don’t mind. I’ll show my leg to them. If I don’t want to get attention, I wear long trousers not shorts.”
Sergeant Sutcliffe is still a proud Poacher and is now attached to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham as a military liaison officer. He asked to do the job, supporting injured soldiers and their families.
“The liaison officers assist injured soldiers through their recovery,” he says. “Soldiers are making such sacrifices, and it’s important we recognise that.”
