“The Fund has helped me recover and return to my active lifestyle”

Squadron Leader Samantha May’s active lifestyle in the RAF took a turn for the worse when she was injured in a sporting accident. Thanks to her determination and emotional support from the RAF Benevolent Fund, Sam is slowly recovering and looking forward to competing in the Invictus Games 2025.

Sam, 31, has been serving as an RAF doctor for the past seven years following three years training at university. Sam is currently based at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, and is now training to be a consultant.

In July 2023, Sam was injured whilst taking part in the pole-vault at the Inter-Service Athletics. “I dislocated my knee, tore a lot of ligaments and had my leg reconstructed using tendons from my uninjured leg. This led to complications and more surgery in January 2024 which has resulted in chronic pain. It has not been a smooth recovery.”

Whilst completing a Battle Back course with the Royal British Legion, Sam was encouraged to apply for the Invictus Games 2025. Sam was also made aware of the Fund’s support for serving personnel and reached out for emotional support. She said: “I was struggling mentally; I’d gone from being an athlete and a doctor and feeling capable to not being able to do anything really. I was in a lot of pain and feeling very low. I realised I needed help, and the Fund set me up with counselling through their Listening and Counselling Service.

“It was really helpful; it was really important to me to have a non-judgemental place to go and talk about things and share the load with someone who could help me figure out coping strategies.”

Sam continued: “I hadn’t appreciated how bad my mental health was until I reached out to the Fund for help. The injury has impacted my work, I was off for a year as my job is very much on my feet as an emergency medicine doctor. Since then, I’ve been back in work doing reduced hours trying to build back up to full time.”

Sam continued: “It has been a really slow process getting back into my active lifestyle. For a long time, I couldn’t do a lot - I was just sitting on the sofa doing physio workouts.”

This February, Sam will be competing in wheelchair basketball, swimming and skiing at the Invictus Games 2025 in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada from 8-16 February. There are 62 members of Team UK taking part with 550 competitors from 25 nations, including 28 RAF personnel.

The multi-sport event offers a recovery pathway for internationally wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women. This year’s Games will be the first to include both winter and summer adaptive sports, including sit-ski, wheelchair basketball, swimming, skeleton, indoor rowing and wheelchair rugby, to name a few.

To prepare for the Games, Sam has been training six times a week including the monthly training camps alongside the other members of Team UK. She joined a civilian wheelchair basketball club and masters swimming team, coached by one of the Invictus Games coaches.

She said: “I’m excited for all of it. I am really nervous but excited too. Once we get there and have the opening ceremony, I think I’ll be more comfortable."

The Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 will take place from 8-16 February 2025.