A SOLDIER who made an incredible recovery after being paralysed from the waist down after being shot in Afghanistan is on the road to making motorsport history.

Tony Williams survived two grenade blasts and then three weeks being shot at six times while giving treatment to an injured soldier in June 2010 when he was serving as a corporal in the Queen Alexandra Royal Army Nursing Corp.

During the attack, he was shot in the shoulder by a sniper while treating a comrade and, despite this, returned to help the casualty nearest to him against an order to wait out medical evacuation, and was shot five more times.

One of the shots resulted in a broken hip, torn bowels and a broken spine, which paralysed him.

Tony, who lives in Blackbrook, was told he was unlikely to walk again and had a less than five per cent chance of fathering children and was unlikely to regain full bladder function. He also sustained a mild traumatic brain injury by being hit in a grenade attack, with shrapnel embedded into his forehead.

After much determination, Tony beat the odds to walk, although he has paralysis in his left leg and a drop foot, and uses a leg brace. And he also defied the doctors to become a dad to two children, Holly, three and Ellena, two with partner Sharon Shaw, 33.

After taking up motorsports Tony is now set to be a driver for Team BRIT, a motor racing team of disabled ex-troops who are looking to make history.

Supported by Brit Insurance, the team which was launched last Thursday (February 16) was backed by patrons and Formula 1 legends, Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert.

The group aims to be the first ever team of all-disabled drivers to compete in Le Mans in 2020, a feat they will hope to achieve after progressing through a racing series starting with the Fun Cup in April.

The team’s four drivers are all ex or serving troops who have sustained serious physical or mental injuries and are disabled.

Tony, 32, said: “When I was injured, my whole world changed and so many opportunities were taken away from me.

"At first it was really dark, I'd found myself attached to the lads and I got into quite a dark place. Then the mother of the guy whose last words were to tell me to get off the battlefield said to me it wasn't my fault and gave me a hug and I realised that I have got a life to live.

"It was a huge mental fight and I went from a soldier to being completely dependent.

"When my oldest daughter was born that was a huge mental boost and changed my life. I'm really enjoying life now."

Tony spent a year with the charity KartForce, of which Team BRIT is a branch, competing in 24-hour races, such a British 24 hours, Le Mans, 24 hours of Majorca, and smaller endurance races around the country before being asked to the join the team.

He added: "Before I wasn't willing to give anything exciting a go and I was afraid of fireworks. With motorsport I found that my mental health was improving and I was setting myself goals physically and mentally and was reconditioning the adrenaline release from a negative to a positive experience."