Darren Swift
Darren Swift was injured by an IRA bomb in May 1991 while serving with the Army’s Dog Unit in Belfast.
He went through 18 months of recovery at Woolwich Hospital and Headley Court before being offered the chance to stay in the Army. Not keen on “plinky plonky desk work” he opted to be discharged in 1992.
“It was the best decision I’ve ever made,” he says. He went on a number of expeditions over the next few years, including canoe trips to the Arctic and a solo “trike ride” around Iceland. After becoming one of the first ex military amputee skydivers with Alistair Hodgson they won a gold medal at the 2003 British Championships.
Swifty then became an amputee snowboarding pioneer. “Again, I got: ‘You can’t snowboard, you’ve got no legs,’ but I drew a design for some bindings on a beer mat and eventually made it happen. Now I’m at my happiest screaming down a mountain.”
He has also had multiple successes as an actor, does TV and film extra work, and takes part in ‘casualty simulations’ in which he plays the role of an injured soldier to teach military and emergency service personnel how to respond in critical situations.
Swifty also works as a public speaker in the education and corporate sectors using his incredible story to inspire and motivate others and is a BASI Snowboard Instructor/Coach working as a volunteer with HM Forces and the Armed Forces Para Snowsport Team. He and Dale Rennard (former Calvert Trust) have founded and now Co Direct DAKScom a Not for Profit CIC that facilitates and develops Snowboarding opportunities for Double Above Knee Amputees.
Image: Blesma, The Limbless Veterans (Facebook)
