Falklands War hero is back on the march: Robert Lawrence's miraculous recovery inspires his action holiday charity



A battered red scrapbook stuffed with yellow newspaper clippings and a few old photographs are the only memorabilia Robert Lawrence has of his Falklands War.



‘The dog ate it,’ he quips, slinging it down on the kitchen counter and pulling up a stool.



We are in the converted barn that Robert – whose memoirs, When The Fighting Is Over, inspired the controversial 1988 film Tumbledown starring Colin Firth – shares with his wife Marion, 50, and children Conrad, 22, Max, 16, and Matilda, 13.

Geared up: Robert and his wife Marion with one of the expedition bikes

In the battle for Tumbledown Hill in June 1982, Robert lost 40 per cent of his brain when he took a bullet in the head. The injury left him paralysed on his left side. Against all odds, he survived – but doctors told him he would never walk and would be incontinent.

He proved them wrong on both counts.

And as we meet, the 50-year-old former Scots Guards captain is finalising preparations for a 1,000-mile, 11-day trip through the Himalayas during which he will be leading a team of about 35 – including a dozen veterans and as many ‘civvies’, some disabled, some not – on motorbikes and in jeeps.



But this is no ordinary action holiday. He hopes the trip will be the first of many and calls it ‘a kind of adventure therapy’ for those, like him, with disabilities.

Having been on a number of similarly exotic expeditions over the past few years – to Africa (escorting Princes William and Harry), the Arctic and twice to India – he finds the experiences ‘cathartic’.



‘With these kind of things, you forget about the things you can’t do because you’re concentrating so bloody hard on just getting through it all in one piece,’ he says.

‘It’s tough, but you feel you’ve achieved something at the end.

'It isn’t a boot camp or Outward Bound,’ he adds. ‘It’s going to be fun. We stay in hotels. I don’t have to prove to myself I can sleep in a tent – I’ve done enough of that in the Army.’

In his scrapbook is a picture taken in December 1982. Robert is in uniform outside Buckingham Palace, flanked by his proud father John and mother Jean. It was the day he received the Military Cross for bravery – which now hangs framed in his downstairs toilet.

Proud moment: Robert with his parents collecting his Military Cross

Twenty-eight years on, the most visible legacy of Robert’s injury is a slight limp and his paralysed left arm.



‘There is nothing wrong with the arm, it’s just my brain no longer has the ability to tell it to move,’ he explains.



‘I suffer from involuntary muscle contractions. I’ve had Botox injections to try to stop it, but that didn’t work and now I have metal plates implanted to hold it in a normal position. The contractions are so strong that one of the screws has started to lever out.’

Robert seems unfazed by his physical disabilities but says his mental wounds may never fully heal.



‘I’ve often said that it isn’t going to war that is hard, it’s the coming home,’ he says.



‘When you have been in situations when decisions mean the difference between life and death, it’s easy to find paying bills rather pointless.’

Over the past two decades Robert has worked in the film industry and in property, yet he speaks of ‘a sense of isolation, because you feel people can’t understand what you’ve been through’.



Now, though, he believes he has found part of the solution. Huddled around a large table are various expedition team members. The group will travel with two doctors, a paramedic and five mechanics. They will carry satellite communication equipment, making sure they are prepared for any eventuality.

They have even modified motorbike sidecars for wheelchair users.

Once his project, Global Adventure Plus, is up and running Robert hopes to secure financial support from the Government, which has earmarked around £30million for the rehabilitation of returning soldiers.

‘About 19,000 men and women leave the Forces each year, many of them injured or with psychological problems,’ he says.



‘Work needs to be done to make sure they can contribute when they come home.’

War hero: Actor Colin Firth portrayed Robert in the harrowing 1988 film Tumbledown

Global Adventure Plus has found recruits via Army rehabilitation services and through word of mouth. Robert also aims to attract some of the ten million disabled people in Britain who have never been in the Forces.

In 1995 he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that affects around seven per cent of the population.



‘When they told me, I thought, “No s***”, ’ he laughs.

PTSD can occur after a serious road accident, an assault or a robbery, and is common in those who have experienced military combat. Sufferers relive the traumatic event through nightmares and flashbacks. They may also have problems concentrating and sleeping, and feel isolated. These symptoms are often persistent and severe.



‘I don’t know how much of the problem is due to the physical damage to my brain, and how much is because of the experiences I have had,’ says Robert.

Over the years he has had counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy and he takes the antidepressants peroxetine and sodium valproate.

Still there are ‘black’ periods where he can’t get out of bed.



‘You just think, “What’s the point?” Some guys hit the bottle, or get into fights, and others end up on the streets because they can’t work. Around a quarter of the homeless population are ex- servicemen.’

Robert attributes the breakdown of his first marriage to Tina Rivett, the mother of Conrad and his other son, Court, 20, who still lives with his mother, to his psychological state.

‘I’ve joked with people, saying form two queues: one goes to The Priory for counselling, the other is coming to India with me,’ he says.



‘We have an NHS psychologist, who is also a wheelchair user, coming on this trip. She will be making a report – hopefully we will be able to prove there is some benefit.’

Robert met Marion, an actress, at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994. They married a year later and in 2002 began a 15-month project designing and converting a Hampshire barn which is now their home.



The Himalayas trip will be Marion’s second such adventure. ‘I’m nervous,’ she says. ‘But I’ve noticed a huge change in Robert since he started going on these trips. It’s given him a focus.’

Of course, adventures are good fun, and no one can deny a holiday can work wonders for most of us. But are there lasting benefits for those with disabilities?

Phillip Hodson, Fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, thinks so.



‘If you have been physically active, to suddenly be in a wheelchair is crushing,’ he says.



‘PTSD and all forms of disability bring about a similar sense of isolation. The fact that most people don’t understand what you are going through compounds the problem.

‘If you are trying to do something difficult, like trek across a mountain range, then you use the resources you have, and forget about all the things you can’t do. A sense of belonging and participation can be healing.’

I talk to Robert again weeks later after the expedition. ‘It was mind-blowing,’ he says. ‘There was a soldier who served in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, another Falklands guy like me, one from Sierra Leone and another from Iraq, and two serving soldiers who had been hurt in Afghanistan.

'We had four wheelchair users, three of whom were not ex-military – and the boys were brilliant at helping them if they needed it.

‘I’ve known the benefits of these trips for a long time, but everyone said they hadn’t felt as good in ages. Now all that remains is to convince the powers that be that these things are worth supporting.’

lwww.global adventureplus.com