A SOLDIER who suffered horrific injuries in Afghanistan has undergone more surgery in his bid to walk again.

Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson, of Colchester-based 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, suffered brain damage and lost both legs in a landmine explosion in Helmand in 2006.

After extensive rehabilitation work, he had succeeded in walking on artificial legs, but was still suffering problems with his balance and mobility.

He had a 6-and-a-half hour operation to realign his spine at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, north London on March 31.

Within ten days of the surgery, L/Bdr Parkinson was discharged and spent Easter with his family.

His mother Diane Dernie said her son’s choice to have the operation and try to improve his walking ability had paid off.

She said: “It’s been an unbelievable success. He now has a 100 per cent normal spinal profile, which will make a big difference.

“The doctors always said they wouldn’t do it unless they could give him a normal profile, and the risk was quite small.

“I suppose really the biggest risk was that the operation wouldn’t achieve what Ben wanted it to do.”

When L/Bdr Parkinson was initially hurt, the damage to his spine was so severe that they were unable to repair it, leaving him with severe curvature of the spine.

Although he will not be able to try walking again for some time, L/Bdr Parkinson has now been discharged from the military’s Headley Court rehabilitation centre for the next four months.

At the end of that period, experts will be able to assess what long-term difference the operation on his spine has made and how to continue his rehabilitation.

But Mrs Dernie, in Doncaster, South Yorks, said the difference in her son was already apparent.

She added: “Before, because his back was bent, he was always tipping himself forward. Now he can sit up, he can balance, and he can sit in an ordinary chair.”

L/Bdr Parkinson was told last December he will be allowed to stay in the Army.