On 1st July 2010 Staff Sergeant Micky Yule, Search Advisor for The Royal Engineers, stepped on an IED. Micky immediately lost his left leg and shattered his right leg completely.
Immediately evacuated back to Camp Bastion, the right leg was removed before being repatriated to The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. Micky was in a coma for a week before being brought back to consciousness to face life as a double amputee with a broken pelvis among other various injuries.
During the long hospital stay, Micky was constantly thinking about what he was going to do with his life once recovered, knowing that he couldn't continue his Army career.
Micky had always been a fit, strong individual and over the previous 2-3 years, had started competing in Powerlifting events alongside his Army service, winning Military competitions before competing in National and World competitions as a Powerlifter, competing in all 3 disciplines.
The coming weeks were spent in various operations, In total Micky has endured over 45 operations to date to get him back to health before transferring to Headley Court to start the long rehabilitation process.
Whilst at Headley he gradually regained his strength and learnt how to walk again with the use of prosthetic legs. The struggle to learn to walk was matched by his sheer determination to get strong again, even though he knew he couldn't compete as he had previously.
Seeing an opportunity to get back on the ladder, Micky learned of a Paralympic Potential Day which included Powerlifting as a descipline. This was his opportunity to show people what he could do. The day went well, although he was still weak from recent operations and not being able to train since injury, and although he lifted everything they had, for some reason it did not go any further than that day. Micky was left bitterly disappointed, but it gave him the determination to carry on, to show them that they hadn't seen the best of him.
Following this, Micky learned of a Talent Identification Day being held in Scotland and went along. That day proved to be the start of the new road for Micky, as they recognised that he had the potential to go a lot further with this, and it gave him a chance to prove the doubters wrong.
Fast forward a few years on and, with a lot of perseverance, training and dedication, Micky is now in both the Scotland and GB team. During that time he still had varous operations, but he tried not to let them stop him training for any length of time, as he knew how hard he had worked to get there and was not willing to let his spot on the team go.
He has competed in recent major International events and is now placed 6th in the World in his weight category.
Micky's most important achievements to date would have to be competing in the Commonwealth Games in his home nation of Scotland, the only injured servicemen to even qualify from the 4 home nations, He finished 4th and felt such a sense of pride to be there with his fellow countrymen.
Shortly after, were the inaugural Invictus Games, where Micky was a Captain of the Powerlifting Team. He won a coveted Gold medal, and was incredibly proud to be a member of the winning British Armed Forces Team. The Invictus Team went on to win the Helen Rollason Award for overcoming adversity at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards in December, to which he was grateful to be invited to as a Captain of the Powerlifting.
This year is one of the most important years of Micky's life, with 3 qualifiers to get selected for the Paralympics and Rio, its going to be tough but this is what he has been working so hard for.
That is Micky's story so far, but there is a lot more to be written.
Diversity
Inclusion
Motivation
Goal-Setting
Injury and Rehabilitation
Micky Yule is a truly inspirational and impressive individual. In ABF The Soldiers' Charity we rate him as one of our best Ambassadors; he has proved to be a most accomplished speaker at many different and high profile fundraising events, ranging from a No10 reception, corporate partnership dinners, and media launch events. He is much in demand; he has real presence, an engaging yet modest speaking style and brings to bear a healthy dose of soldier humour. On his road to recovery from being blown-up in Afghanistan, his immense success with competitive powerlifting at an international level is testament to his incredible motivation to succeed. I recommend him most highly.
Brigadier Robin Bacon, ABF The Soldiers’ Charity"Micky is an inspiration to everyone he meets, engaging, honest, down to earth and very matter of fact about what has happened to him. He gives the audience an insight into how sport has, and is changing his life. You could have heard a pin drop during his talk. He can connect with students and adults alike and really gets across to the audience his passion. Students and parents were queuing to chat with Micky afterwards and he spoke to them all. The feedback the Academy received from parents after the award ceremony sang nothing but his praises. Inspirational".
Zak Needham, Outdoor Pursuits Instructor, Samworth Church AcademyWhat can I say - Micky's easy manner and the honest, amusing and witty way in which he delivered the story of his journey so far left his audience quite literally stunned by his inspiration. Please wish him all the very best from the members of the Rotary Club of Scunthorpe who all wish him every success on his way to Rio.
Rotary Club of Scunthorpe's 87th Charter Dinner
A dynamic and versatile speaker, Josh is able to draw upon his experience and expertise to give inf…