AN INSPIRING WARRIOR

After conquering the North Pole, a South African-born British soldier who lost an arm in Afghanistan is on his way to his biggest challenge - climbing Mount Everest. Jaco van Gass (25) was born in Middelburg and grew up in Witbank. In 2006 he moved to the UK in 2006 and enlisted in the British Army Parachute Regiment. He served two tours of duty in Afghanistan in 2008 and 2009. Two years ago, with just two weeks to go to the end of his second six-month tour, Jaco, 14 colleagues and 30 Afghan soldiers were caught in a night-time firefight in Helmand province, where he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by the Taliban, shattering his left arm. He also suffered a collapsed lung, punctured internal organs, muscle and tissue damage to the upper-left thigh, shrapnel wounds and a fractured knee, fibula and tibia. He was flown to Camp Bastion and on to the UK. Soon after coming out of rehab, he applied to join the Walking With The Wounded (WWTW) trip to the North Pole, but was turned down as he wasn't walking well, had a colostomy and was running a temperature. Jaco set to work and got the colostomy reversed, went skiing in Germany and ran a marathon in Kenya and one in Washington with an 18kg backpack. He met some of the WWTH guys in gym again and applied again for North Pole trip and was accepted. Last April the WWTW expedition team became the first group of wounded servicemen to reach the geographic North Pole unsupported. Prince Harry, patron of WWTW, joined them for part of the journey. Two months later, Jaco started training for Mount Everest, chosen as part of the nine-man. Last October they climbed the 8156m Mount Manaslu in the Himalayas. They leave for Nepal tomorrow and hope to summit during a two-week, good-weather window in May. Jaco's parents, Deon and Aloma, and sister Lizanne, live in Pretoria. His girlfriend Sian is very proud of him.