Shrewsbury sergeant Kevin Drake excited to represent country at Invictus Games

He was left with numerous fractures and breaks in his legs, as well as short term memory loss and a shattered heel bones.

After countless operations and rehabilitation, he's now getting ready to compete in this year's Invictus Games in Toronto by training hard in Shrewsbury.

He said: "I'm incredibly excited to be competing and to be representing my country again.

"I started tennis about three years ago. Post-injury I was always just sat around doing nothing, I had no goals in life, no focus.

"It was really difficult. Then the difficulty was finding the time to fit all the training in because my main goal has been getting my legs working again and getting my prosthetic working."

Following the injury in 2013, Sergeant Drake went through countless operations in a bid to try and save his legs.

His wife, Julie, 32, said the work carried out on him by doctors will also help future victims of similar injuries.

She said: "He came home with both legs and for three years they did numerous operations on him.

"He then had his left leg amputated last year. He was a bit of a guinea pig really, the doctors asked if they could try some different things to help, and they will be able to learn from the work they did on him.

"What they tried gave him three years with two legs. There is a possibility he could lose the right leg at some point, but we have to see really."

Sergeant Drake, 38, said: "It has been an incredibly difficult journey because I've been through many ups and downs. You have an operation, get up on your legs or prosthetics, then something goes wrong and you're back in a wheelchair.

"I'm in a wheelchair at the moment because of a complication – it's quite a lot like one step forward and two steps back."

Mrs Drake previously worked as a chef in the army, and the two became friends.

However, for a number of years they lost contact, only getting in touch through social media every so often.

When she saw something on Facebook about him being injured, she went to visit him at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham when they reconnected.

Sergeant Drake said: "She's been with me on the whole journey from that point. We got together a couple of months after and married in 2014 and had our daughter in 2015.

"She's called Isla Elizabeth Drake, so her initials actually spell out IED."

Now, he's training hard to get ready for the Invictus Games, where he will compete in wheelchair tennis as well as rowing at the games, and is also in the reserves for wheelchair basketball.

His step-son, Finley-Mark Shuttle, aged eight, has also been an avid tennis player with him, and the pair also play football together.

Mrs Drake added: "It is great, he just does things as any normal family would do."

Sergeant Drake will be part of the 90-strong team of wounded, injured and sick (WIS) military personnel and veterans who have been selected to represent the UK at this year's games.

The Invictus Games Toronto 2017 will take place from September 23 to 30. To find out more, go to invictusgames2017.com