Give me a break - After all, I did get shot!
Ok, ok, ok, I’m sorry. I know it’s been ages since I updated my blog, but as some of you may have heard, I went and got myself shot. Yes, that’s right, shot. In the chest. With a real bullet. A big one, 7.62! In through the ribs in my lower left chest, just under my heart, punctured my diaphragm, tore my colon, damaged my spleen, and exploded out my lower back, taking rather a large chunk of me with it.
It happened on May 14, a date that is etched in my memory, and on my body too.
The good news is I am still alive. The bad news is it hurt. A lot. And worse, while I am recovering the story is progressing apace in Afghanistan and I’m not there to cover it. It’s enough to make a grown man cry.
My photos from the 5 weeks, and particularly the day of the ambush I was shot in, are getting quite a lot of publications, which I assume is why I am getting so many emails demanding to know where I am and what happened. I’ve had an 8 page spread in The Sunday Times magazine, and this week I have photos in Newsweek and a gallery on their website, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20429588/displaymode/1107/s/2/ . I also have a story in FHM (the UK edition) and they have put a lot of my pictures in a gallery, to be found at the dubious url www.fhm.com/iwasshot .
I’ve given various radio interviews and even appeared on Ireland’s breakfast show Ireland AM. And last night I gave a talk at the Frontline Club in London to a room full of journalists and photographers, which I have to say was pretty scary. Assessment by one’s peers and all that.
So, why haven’t I written a full account of the ambush, shooting, and subsequent recovery, and published it on this blog. Well, in fact, I did write it all, but I have been holding off putting it online. Some of the story I sold with the photos, and soon the rest will be appearing here. Very soon, I promise, but not yet.
In the meantime, check out the links above, and let me know what you think of them.
Stay safe everyone,
John D