Woman. Empowered session 5

Woman. Empowered session 5

This session we welcome Gemma and Charmaine who are going to share their story of resilience and overcoming adversity. 

The stories will then be followed by a facilitated Q&A where participants will be invited to  ask the speakers any questions they may have. 

About the speakers 

Charmaine 

Charmaine was deployed to Afghanistan as part of the bomb disposal team in 2010 and was injured whilst out on the ground supporting a scene of explosion involving a convoy of other vehicles. She# talks about her experience of her treatment, her long road through many surgeries to try to save her foot. Charmaine shares the impact on her family to have an elective amputation and then how she was medically discharged in 2014, she talks about how this affected her life and her relationships. 

Charmaine also talks about  how she had been diagnosed with PTSD which she tried to conceal, her mental health, how life got very dark for her. Charmaine found that sport became a massive part of her life and journey with Invictus Games. She bravely talks about her relationship with mental health and how her family and friends are so important to her. 

Gemma 

Gemma was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2017. She talks about how she tried to continue to be positive after her surgery and treatment. 

She was in the Army Reserves, she continued to work with them, grabbing life and all the opportunities it offered. Gemma then had a bad accident whilst on a rock climbing course resulting in her breaking her neck. Her recovery was long but she always held on to hope that she would be ok. She shares how she had suffered a mild traumatic brain injury and how this began to impact her life. Her recovery was ongoing, and she talks about how she always tries to look forward until she found out that she was unable to
have children. Gemma is on a continuing journey and she is in a place of processing her future.