Seeing Through The Fog

A soldier who lost a leg in Afghanistan has had his disability benefits stopped because he has learnt to walk a few hundred metres on a prosthetic limb.

Private Aron Shelton, 26, had his left leg amputated below the knee – while his right leg was also damaged – after the Land Rover he was travelling in was blown up in June 2007.

The blast killed his friend Drummer Thomas Wright, 21, and badly injured three comrades but Pte Shelton survived.

Angry: Aron Shelton, 26, in Afghanistan before the blast that cost him his leg. He has been told he will lose his disability allowance for learning how to walk again

He was awarded £180-a-month Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and bravely learnt to walk again with the help of a prosthetic limb.

But now he has been informed the allowance will be cut after he admitted he could now walk around 400 metres unaided.

Last night the soldier said the decision letf him ‘mortified’ and condemned the Government for failing to provide adequate financial help for injured soldiers.

Pte Shelton, who served in the Army for nine years, said: ‘I go to war and fight for my country, lose and limb and then this is the way I’m treated.

‘I was absolutely mortified, heartbroken and angry. Heartbroken because I felt I’d been left high and dry by my own Government.

‘It is no way to treat anyone who needs help – it doesn’t matter whether they were injured fighting in Afghanistan or are just an ordinary civilian.

‘The letter shocked me to the core and I still can’t really believe the decision.

‘The system stinks’: Aron Shelton and his fiancee Callon Fowler

‘It’s taken a long time and a lot of hard work by myself and the Ministry of Defence to get myself back on my feet.

‘I can walk unaided about 400 metres. After that I am in total pain. Everything is a struggle when you can’t get around and you are in constant pain.’

Pte Shelton of 2nd Mercian Regiment was travelling in a Land Rover in Lashkar Har in Helmand Province when the vehicle was hit by a massive explosion.

His friend was killed and comrades injured and he suffered horrific wounds to both his legs and spent weeks in hospital.

Unable to save his left leg, doctors amputated below the knee in December 2008 and he has been warned injuries to his other leg are likely to lead to amputation.

Rather than being paid cash, his £180-a-month disability benefits were paid in kind and he was awarded a specially adapted Vauxhall Vectra.

The father-of-one from Bridlington, East Yorkskire, was determined to walk again and with the help of the prosthetic limb and medical staff he was able to make progress.

As part of a review of his medical condition he informed benefits bosses about the slight improvement in his mobility.

But he was stunned when he received a letter informing he was no longer eligible for the benefit and would have to hand back the car.

He said: ‘Because I can walk that distance and was honest enough to tell them, the benefit is being taken away and with it my only means of getting around.’

Private Shelton’s friend Drummer Thomas Wright was killed in the blast