A SOLDIER who lost his legs in a bomb blast was due to find out today if a 13.5-hour operation to help him walk again has been a success.

Sapper Ashley-James Hall also celebrates his 22nd birthday today at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Birmingham.

He has undergone his 39th op since the roadside bomb explosion while serving with 36 Engineer Regiment in Afghanistan, in July 2010.

Former St Benedict’s College and Colchester Institute student Ash, as he known, is determined to walk again.

He plans to walk up the aisle when he marries fiancee Jade.

However, Ash has been hindered in learning to walk on prosthetic legs due to a condition called heterotopic ossification, where bone grows in soft tissue around the wounds.

His father, Stephen, said Ash had undergone what was due to be his last major operation.

But complications arose and he had to endure further surgery.

Stephen, from Boxted, said: “The last major operation lasted 13-and-a-half-hours and Ash ended up in critical care for two hours.

“He was rushed back into theatre suffering from a major bleed.

“The surgeons had to take him back in to undo everything they had done and the operation lasted a further six-and-a-half-hours.

“In all, he was in theatre for 27 out of 36 hours.”

The operations aimed to shorten the bone and complete skin grafts.