A former soldier who lost both legs and several fingers in a bomb blast in Afghanistan says gaming one-handed has saved his life. Mikey Keighley narrowly escaped death during a foot patrol of scrubland while he was serving with 1 Rifles in July 2011.
The 33-year-old, from Shotton, County Durham, became a recluse after suffering complex injuries in the blast, but says he now has a thriving social life after finding a controller he can play one-handed. Mr Keighley now competes with gamers all over the world and has a growing fanbase on the streaming gaming platform Twitch, where he goes by the username MonkeyNooLegs.
He recently raised almost £1,000 for Help for Heroes during his first Twitch tournament for charity.
Mr Keighley was blown up while on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. He was ahead of his comrades, doing five-metre checks of the area around his body, when the IED detonated.
He said: "I went flying up in the air and then I hit the ground. The first thing I did was look at my right hand and I screamed 'man down'. My friend ran over and patched me up with tourniquets before I was helicoptered away.
"I signed up to the army aged 19 and did my first tour of Afghanistan aged 20, I was injured aged 21 and spent my 22nd birthday in critical care. I was on life support for a few weeks and I was paralysed from the neck down for months due to the trauma that was caused to nerves in my back. I had to lie in bed for months on end - that was the worst time."
After initially being treated by medics at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, Mr Keighley was transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. He spent years being treated at Headley Court, the former defence medical rehabilitation centre, before his family turned to Help for Heroes when he was medically discharged from the army.
The charity's "very seriously injured" team have helped Mr Keighley live a healthy, independent life with the funding of adaptive gym equipment to help him maintain his fitness, as well as bathroom adaptations and specialist modifications to his vehicle. He was able to rediscover his love of gaming after it took him seven years to find a controller he liked - the Xbox version with four underside paddles which he plays with two fingers and a thumb - and now plays daily against people around the world.
He said: "I used to be socially isolated, but now I have this massive friendship group who I spend hours with, it just happens to be online. I never thought I'd be friends with people from Australia and America.
"I would say gaming has saved me. When you are messing about gaming you aren't thinking about what's going on with your life.
"I used to sit in my kitchen with the music on all day, I would just stare out of the window. Gaming makes me talk to people - that's something I didn't do outside of my family."
Mr Keighley's aim now is to travel abroad to compete at a tournament in person.
"It would prove to myself how far I have come since I was injured and what I can do. Without Help for Heroes I would be a very sad loner. I want to get it out there and raise awareness that you can still game even if you don't have both hands."
Help for Heroes has launched its own gaming fundraiser to support wounded veterans and their families, from online gaming to 24-hour gaming marathons - take on the challenge at https://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/give-support/fundraise/hero-up/
