Invictus Games glory for Marine after car crash

"Life does go on, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel for you," says former Royal Marine Ben Lukowski.

The 42-year-old served several tours of Iraq and Afghanistan but suffered a brain injury in a car crash near his home in Nottinghamshire.

It was a love of sport that aided his rehabilitation and helped him triumph at the Invictus Games in Canada in February, winning two gold medals.

"I can't describe it in words but to have my family there cheering me on with my two girls watching was amazing," said the dad of two, from Hucknall.

His wife Claire Lukowski said her husband went to pick their daughter up from a party when the crash happened in July 2022.

She noticed he had been out a long time and thought he had gone to the shops on the way home.

It was not long after she received a phone call from her husband that he had been involved in a car crash.

"I was in total shock," she said. "He told me where it was and it was close to my parents' house, where I was at the time.

"I started running towards where it happened and found him sitting up against a garden wall... the driver's side was completely smashed in."

Mrs Lukowski explained a few days later, he could not remember conversations with her, he forgot information and his speech was not right.

She added: "It's now the standing joke, everyone says it... he's been shot at, bombed and it was a car that got him. People still can't believe it."

After heading to hospital days after the crash, Mr Lukowski was told he had suffered a brain injury.

It led to his medical discharge from the Royal Marines, which left him "devastated".

The injury affected his speech, his memory and mobility on one side of his body.

He spent the next two years in rehabilitation centres in Leicestershire and Cornwall.

Mr Lukowski said: "The world for the first three or four months was really tough trying to understand that my brain works differently.

"It would have been easy for me to sit back and do nothing, but I threw myself into sport."

While he was at the Royal Navy Recovery Centre, he was urged to apply for selection for the Invictus Games.

"I saw how good it had been for the other guys who had been injured so I went for it and was buzzing when they told me I'd been picked," he said.

"The whole preparation has helped me massively, not only is the injury life-changing, you don't really know what is happening - with a complex brain injury you're constantly trying to readjust."

Mr Lukowski said the support of his family during his recovery and his time in Vancouver "meant the world to him".

He has competed in various sports during his time in the forces but never in front of his family.

He won two golds for indoor rowing, and his team came fourth in sitting volleyball.

Mr Lukowski said: "I don't know if it's how my brain works but it still doesn't feel real at all.

"To have my daughter with me was so special - that was the biggest thing for me."

Mrs Lukowski added: "I'm extremely proud of him, me and the girls can't put it into words how much so.

"I tell him every day that I'm proud of him but he forgets, bless him."

Mr Lukowski is now on a Paralympics pathway to try and break into the Team GB squad for the Los Angeles games in 2028.

Since his medical discharge, Mr Lukowski has come second in the Ultimate Champion at the Wounded Warriors Trials in the US, alongside US Marine Corps personnel in recovery in 2023.

Later that year, he took part in the Australian Trilogy, organised by charity 65 Degrees North, which supports wounded and injured service personnel.

It saw Mr Lukowski and his teammates parachute from 15,000 feet on to Noosa Beach, before cycling 1,000 miles into the outback, scaling Mount Kosciuszko and finishing at Sydney Opera House.

Following the crash, Mr Lukowski instructed military injury lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to help him access support, therapies and rehabilitation.

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