A FORMER Royal Marine from Wareham who had to relearn to talk and walk after an horrific skiing accident has fought back to become a property entrepreneur. Joe Lane, an ex-captain and troop commander in the elite Royal Marines fighting force, is already earning enough money to be financially free. He was in a coma for three days and also lost his hearing temporarily, but battled his way back to a full recovery, despite doctors’ fears he could be left in a permanent vegetative state.
Six years later the veteran of the war in Afghanistan has forged a new career, snapping up houses at below market value, doing them up and then renting them out. The 36-year-old, however, refuses to rest on his laurels and is trying to build up a property portfolio.
Joe flew to Afghanistan in 2008, where he took part in helicopter assaults and regularly came under fire. He said: “My men were lucky. None of us were killed.” Joe was also despatched to post-war Iraq, where he set up armoured vehicle convoys to avoid improvised explosive devices, and escort people into Kuwait.
Having survived all these dangers, Joe was seriously injured while on a skiing holiday in the Austrian Alps. “I don’t really remember what happened, but I must have hit a lip, gone over and smashed my head on the ice. I woke up three days later in hospital. I couldn’t walk or talk. I’d lacerated the part of the brain that operates all your muscular movement.
The cut was within a third of a millimetre of the bit that controls your breathing and heart rate, so it was quite a close call.” Joe spent six months in rehabilitation centres and it took him 18 months to learn how to walk and talk again. After recovering, Joe then started investing in property. “I was never just going to sit at home and twiddle my thumbs,” said Joe, who served with the Royal Marines for eight and a half years.
Looking to the future, he intends to move into offering serviced accommodation for short lets through his company, Top Hat Property.
This article was taken from Dorset Echo. It can be found here: https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/17430515.royal-marine-battles-back-from-coma-to-forge-new-career/
