Charity success for bomb survivor

The Sentinel recently told the story of Steve ‘Taffy’ Horvath, a Welshman who served in Northern Ireland during the darkest days of the Troubles. He said that despite witnessing numerous horrific events, “picking up pieces of broken bodies” in his role as a British army medic, he was so traumatised by his experiences of the Droppin Well bombing thirty years ago that he “ended up in a mental hospital.”

He said that he has been lucky enough to have received help from Combat Stress, a charity set up in the aftermath of the First World War to aid returning soldiers who had been profoundly affected by the horrors of one of the worst conflicts in human history.

Soldiers returning with ‘shellshock’, or what doctors now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), received help from Combat Stress after the Great War, and the charity now dedicate themselves to helping ex-servicemen and women throughout the UK who have been similarly affected by the horrors of war. Among them is Steve ‘Taffy’ Horvath, whose doctors trace his illness to December 1982, when the busy Droppin Well pub in Ballykelly was ripped apart by an explosion during a disco. 11 soldiers were killed in the explosion, alongside six ordinary civilians, as well as the numerous people who received severe injuries in one of the worst atrocities of Northern Ireland’s dark history.

‘Taffy’ subsequently developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and has since received help from Combat Stress. He is now trying to raise awareness and money for the charity in order to say thanks. He recently completed a gruelling sponsored walk over the course of three days, walking at least a marathon on each day around the scenic Pembrokeshire Coast in his native Wales.

Steve ‘Taffy’ Horvath and a close friend, Peter Jenkins, whom Mr Horvath met whilst living in a sheltered accommodation complex, walked from one military base to another in a sponsored walk in excess of 80 miles - a journey longer than walking from Londonderry to Belfast around a rocky, cliff edge.

Speaking about his illness, the Northern Ireland veteran had previously told the Sentinel how he “smacked” a psychiatrist whom he met after ending up in a mental hospital in Norfolk, simply for coming up with the diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The mental injuries he incurred during the bombing and the resulting diagnosis of Combat-induced PTSD was something he felt at the time was a “weak-willed illness” not fit for a “stubborn, bloody minded Welshman” such as himself.

He has since accepted the diagnosis, and has recently completed his gruelling 80 mile walk for Combat Stress. He said: “We’ve raised over £1,000 but we won’t know the final total until we have been around all the sponsors. I think I’ve done myself some permanent damage. I’ve got an artificial knee and osteo-arthritis in both shoulders.

“It’s a combination of combat injuries and just plain getting old. We were originally going to set out on the walk a bit earlier but the Coastguard had advised us to post-pone it for a few days because of some extreme weather. We set out at 9.30am on Wednesday the 26th of September.

“We started from one military base, Merrion and finished at Cawdor, a former RAF base which is now used by the army. We did 33 miles on the Wednesday, 26 miles on the Thursday and we were expecting to have only about 13 miles left for the Friday - that was according to the Sat Nav. It took us on a detour to the back gates of the base on Friday - but this is great big RAF base so it was quite a detour.

“It was myself and a man called Peter Jenkins, a great friend of mine. I call him an old man because he is 69 years-old, but he is a prolific sponsored walker. He set quite a pace.

“I was absolutely knackered. My two sisters, my niece and my wife were waiting on me. My sister said you look like a man of 90 at the end of it. My wife told me I was walking like a knackered penguin. I think I might need to have metal put into my left knee as well. They won’t be calling me Taffy, they will be calling me ‘metal Mickey’ or something.”

Mr Horvath believes the charity needs all the help it can get, both for the former RUC and UDR men who were affected by the worst horrors of the Troubles, and for the thousands of young men and women set to face the struggle of coping with the aftermath of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He was inspired into action for Combat Stress after a close friend and neighbour in his sheltered accommodation complex in West Wales suggested taking on a sponsored walk. Steve ‘Taffy’ Horvath said that he was initially reluctant to take part because of his mental and physical disabilities, but felt moved enough after watching a television programme about fellow veterans to give it a go. He said: “I watched that bloody programme about the five guys climbing Mount Everest, and I thought, well if those chaps can make a go at climbing Everest – a stubborn Welshman like me can do a 70 mile walk.”

Speaking about the walk itself, he added: “All in all it was a great walk. I have a few regrets because I could have left myself needing surgery on my knee but I’ve got to put up with that. We have raised a little bit of money for charity and that will go towards treating people struggling with PTSD. We helped to raise awareness for Combat Stress so all in all I have to say I am glad I did it.”

Readers can still donate money for Mr Horvath’s sponsored walk at the following web address - www.justgiving.com/SteveTaffyHorvath or by donating directly to Combat Stress. Details for donations are available at combatstress.org.uk.