Soldier defies injuries to tie knot

Taliban couldn’t beat true love.

A soldier has tied the knot with his long-term girlfriend just months after a Taliban attack left him brain-damaged.

Just four months ago Shaun Tomlinson was fighting for his life after being caught up in an insurgent attack in deadly Helmand, Afghanistan.

Desperately clinging on to life, he underwent emergency surgery and was left with permanent brain damage.

But his amazing recovery he was walking within a week of surgeons operating inspired him to tie the knot with the woman whose love saved his life.

Earlier this month he married Peyton Sawyer, 24.

“I didn’t think I would make it,” said Shaun, 21, of Morecambe, Lancashire. “When I came back, I never thought I would be in a fit state to get married. Now I feel like the luckiest man in the world.”

Shaun’s horrific injuries have caused short-term memory problems and slurred speech.

But his brain damage didn’t stop him declaring his love for Peyton at their wedding as family and friends looked on.

Peyton of Darlington, said: “I never thought I could love Shaun any more than I do but nearly losing him has taken it to a whole new level.”

The couple met in 2009 when Shaun was stationed at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.

He and Peyton immediately hit it off and spent hours chatting.

Peyton said she fell in love immediately.

They moved in to their home in Hunton, North Yorkshire, earlier this year, with their two young sons. The next weekend, Shaun flew to Afghanistan.

Then, on April 9, while on patrol in Helmand province, Shaun was caught in an insurgent attack.

He said: “I was conscious and remember the whole incident. I recall being taken by ambulance to Camp Bastion and then flown to Kandahar.

“There are specialist surgeons there who carried out brain surgery.”

He was then flown to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital as Peyton rushed to be by his bedside.

She said: “I felt angry that somebody had done that to him.

“I thought I could have lost him.”

But with Peyton holding vigil Shaun, incredibly, pulled through.

He is now receiving ongoing care at Headley Court, the armed

forces’ dedicated rehabilitation centre in Surrey.

Shaun said: “I made such a good recovery that, within a week, I was walking again.

“The nurses and doctors all said they had never seen such a quick recovery.”

They married at the Holiday Inn Darlington A1 Scotch Corner hotel with Shaun’s “inseparable” Royal Military Police pal Kenny Lussier as best man.